What's the most utterly pretentious album title you've ever seen?

grt albm tho

It's up there with the artist blah blah Prince

(My knowledge of this is proof that I used to listen to indie in the 80's.)

That's the point, they created it as a ridiculous and not necessarily funny joke. In which case, did they fail or succeed? ;-)

Also BDP's By Any Means Necessary

Pretentious =/ stupid

Pretentious (title and artist both).

Is "We have the facts and we're voting yes" too obvious? That always annoyed me. There's also Eminem using a different one of his names for each album (oh, that's a concept... right.)

They wish...

Devendra Banhart's debut title is a bit trying ('Oh me oh my .. the way the day goes by the sun is setting dogs are dreaming lovesongs of the christmas spirit') but it's redeemed by the album's cover art (see here: http://www.younggodrecords.com/Releases/Detail.asp?ReleaseID=26)

I really like this parody of the Wavy Gravy school of titles, 'The Three Terrors In Their 1885 Transploding Styrofoam Holo-Graphic Octopus', the title of a one off show at the Bowery Ballroom by Stephin Merritt & pals.

'Some Girls' by the Stones has to win some prize for the most misogynistic groupie-banging album title in history.

1.Black Dragons soar above the Mountain of Shadows - Keyboard Instrumental
2.To dethrone the Witch-Queen of Mytos K'unn (The legend of the battle of Blackhelm Vale)
3.As the Vortex illuminates the cystalline walls of Kor-Avul-Thaa
4.Starfire burning upon the ice-veiled throne of Ultima Thule
5.Journey to the Isle of Mists (Over the moonless depths of night-dark seas)
6.The Splendour of a thousand swords gleaming beneath the blazon of the Hyperborean Empire
7.. And lo, when the Imperium marches against Cul-Kothoth, then dark sorceries shall enshroud the Citadel of the Obsidian Crown
8.Summoning the Guardians of the Astral Gate
9.In the Raven-haunted forests of Darkenhold, where Shadows reign and the hues of sunlight never dance
10.At the altar of the Dreaming Gods

I nominate all self-titled records, but especially non-debut self-titled albums. Bo Diddley is the only artist allowed to do this, as he is Bo Freakin' Diddley. The band called Chicago is therefore the most pretentiously-titled band of all time.

Oh, and I really like super-pretentious titles of the kind cited above. More self-glorification! Hey, Yume Bitsu, who called a record Giant Surface Music Falling to Earth Like Jewels From the Sky! I am in fact calling you out...for a hug!

("The Eminem Show" strikes me as being a fair degree of aggrandisement away from, ooh, "It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back" or "Follow The Leader", say)

I want to also add that A Rush of Blood to the Head is pretty damned pretentious. Not evil or wrong, just pretentious. Makes me like Coldplay just a little bit.

It's unfair to say the whole album focused on the group. "She Watch Channel Zero" and "Night of the Living Baseheads" dealt w/other issues. "Cold Lampin'" was a nice diversion. And "Caught...", while focusing on the group itself, was not about anyone's fascination w/them.

ITANOM... is my fave record ever BTW. The Eminem Show is not.

I love that title!

I nominate Terence Trent D'arby's entire catalog, or at least his first four. (How many has he got?) Anyone who habitually uses their own name and a possessive "s" in their album titles...And even a colon in the debut for, chrissakes.

i'm sure the band has some idea that its products are going to reach a global audience, and is conscious of trying to outsmart its naive anglophone listeners with some faux sort of exoticism.

I'm not sure I agree- they are titling them in their native language, and they do have fans in Iceland, I'm sure. And besides, Sigur Ros means Victory Rose IIRC, which is pretty pedestrian as far as album titles go. On the other hand, there is no excuse for the fucking parentheses album, packaging and all.

yeah, you're probably right :)

That Aeroplane one by Neutral Milk Hotel or whoever it was.

Actually that was Olivia Tremor Control.

I'm going to state the obvious here, an obvious that others have more than alluded to, but why do so many ILMers interpret "pretentious" as a pejorative? I mean, it can be, but, hey...

And as much as () is, kind of, oddly, pretentious, it's packaging is both pretentious and very beautiful indeed.

I sometimes wonder whether "pretentious" is synonymous with "artistically ambitious".

Pavement, "Westing (By Musket and Sextant)"

That long Fiona Apple poem title ("When the Pawn...") is pretentious in the eyes of many. Me, I think it's neat.

Although I do always find the defence "b-b-but it was s'posed to be a joke" hilariously lame in the face of such accusations. I mean, have the huevos to embrace the pretentiousness (or lack of, whatever) of your music or the music you champion!

And might not "artistically ambitious" also encompass "overreaching"? I mean, this shit ain't simple.

Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Die, Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Live Forever

People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7f/Prince_%28artist%29.svg

13 Tales from Urban Bohemia

what's pretentious about druqks? am i missing something?

Bolton Swings Sinatra

that's "Mr." Fuckface to you, chaki...

You know, a "fuckface" is kind of a weird thing to call someone as an insult. YOU ARE A CONTORTED EXPRESSION OF EXTREME PLEASURE! It just doesn't quite work.

I nominate Terence Trent D'arby's entire catalog, or at least his first four. (How many has he got?) Anyone who habitually uses their own name and a possessive "s" in their album titles...And even a colon in the debut for, chrissakes.

yup -- terrence trent d'arby wins this contest hands down. he's the closest thing to a black axl rose as yer gonna get.

it's pretty easy to look up words.

"pretentious: trying to appear or sound more important or clever than you are, especially in matters of art and literature."

'the shape of jazz to come' isn't pretentious, it's accurate. and as a title it's humbler than it sounds.

'in the aeroplane over the sea' isn't pretentious, it refers to a song on the album titled 'in the aaeroplane over the sea' with that line in it describing an aeroplane over the sea. it's not claiming anything and it has a nice roll to it; how that is trying to appear or sound more important or clever than it really is = beyond me.

() is pretentious because a pair of parentheses with nothing in them is trying to appear or sound more important or clever than it really is.

it's fun and easy to apply definitions to things!

peter murphy, deep -- pretentious if meant to convey mr. murphy's opinion as to the quality of that record's songs (not to mention the prior pretentiousness from mr. murphy's bauhaus [itself a pretty pretentious bandname] days, then there's naming yer post-bauhaus band "dali's car"). interestingly enough, the music on deep was probably murphy's most accessible and pop-oriented.

No mention of "This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours" yet?
Although, surely, there are songtitles by the Manics that are even way more pretentious than that one.

'He Has Left Us Alone But Shafts of Light Sometimes Grace the Corners of Our Rooms' - A Silver Mount Zion

No mention of "A Whole New Thing" by Sly & The Family Stone.

Giving your debut album such a title speaks of extreme confidence.....

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.. Vol 1.

Supergrass by Supergrass.

No mention of "A Whole New Thing" by Sly & The Family Stone.

Giving your debut album such a title speaks of extreme confidence.....

Yeah, but if it's true (and it was for Sly), it ain't braggin'. Ditto Ornette's The Shape Of Jazz To Come, Cecil Taylor's Jazz Advance, etc.

Those titles were decided by the record companies, though, not the artists.

There's a great 2-in-1 CD reissue of Jazz Advance and Coltrane Time which is credited to Cecil and goes under the name of Hard Drivin' Jazz complete with cover shot of car. Boy are the Les McCann fans in for a shock.

Although I do always find the defence "b-b-but it was s'posed to be a joke" hilariously lame...
Sometimes dude, they're right.

I'll cast a vote for We Are the Architects of Desire, though it's probably not my final answer.

thread should've ended here

I was hoping that would link to the first post but close enough.

I like China Crisis

Yeah, but if it's true (and it was for Sly), it ain't braggin'. }

I do, indeed, agree, that Sly Stone's mixture of soul, funk, hippie music and English psychedelia was actually a whole new thing. But it's still pretentious.

the siegbran/mark s/tom exchanges up above are magnificent

I don't think you actually know what "pretentious" means, Geir. It's not a synonym for "arrogant" or "presumptuous".

http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/pretentious

Sydney band Madroom had an album called (deep breath)

"I'm for an art that is political-erotical-mystical, that does something other than sit on its ass in a museum. I am for an art that grows up not knowing it is art at all, an art given the chance of having a staring point of zero.I am for an art that embroils itself with the everyday crap & still comes out on top. I am for an art that imitates the human, that is comic, if necessary, or violent, or whatever is necessary. I am for an art that takes its form from the lines of life itself, that twists and extends and accumulates and spits and drips, and is heavy and coarse and blunt and sweet and stupid as life itself".

The quote is from sculptor Claes Oldenburg, apparently. It was a great album in a Birthday Partyish vein, hmmm, what happened to it?

I don't think you actually know what "pretentious" means, Geir. It's not a synonym for "arrogant" or "presumptuous".

Actually, according to your own reference
Arrogant doesn't show up under synonyms for pretentious, but if you keep reading, pretentious does show up under synonyms for Arrogant. As for "presumptuous", one of the first synonyms is "assuming", so, y'know... it does mean those things.
I don't care for squabbles over definitions, but when it's cut and dry like this...

OK, in short (ref: Sly album)

If the album title is true, then it is not pretentious.

I thank you.

B-b-b-but... All those self-titled album titles are objectively true, and nobody can deny that. :)

http://www.phonono.com/pix/sigur-ros-svigar-lg.jpg

http://image.listen.com/img/170x170/4/2/3/2/402324_170x170.jpg

(Those two)

xpost: Right, so Self Titled albums are not pretentious album titles.

That does not stop them from being pretentious band/artist names, however.

It's a pity the Madroom album wasn't actually called (deep breath).

It's not pretentious, but Vintage Cocker does make me giggle.

The parenthesised song subtitles on Hail To the Thief have always sturck me as pretentious, and irritated me to the point where I've deleted the subtitles from the songs' iTunes files.

Radiohead have just committed suicide in sympathy with your heartfelt protest.

in addition, their collective assets have been transferred to your bank account.

Hooray.