Seriously, I'm downright surprised that neither Metallica nor AC/DC have released a "Best Of" album yet. They're certainly been around long enough to put out 2 CD sets each and lord knows they have enough quality material to fill them to the brim so....what's the hold up?

Who are the other major artists that have yet to release a "Greatest Hits"/"Best Of" album yet?

I think AC/DC is considering their Live album as a best-of, but I'd prefer a standard one with the studio versions.

For Metallica... who knows? I have a promo (radio station use) 2-disc set called Mandatory Metallica which serves as a good best-of, but while it's an official release from the label, it was never made for retail sale.

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from back catalogue

Best Of = Fleeting Career

They don't need to.

"Black In Black" is already a "greatest hits" album. As is the Black album.

"Greatest Hits" also implies that you consider your career to be "over" and can't come up with any more hits. Both AC/DC and Metallica still believe they got more in them.

I was going to say exactly what nodeer and cactusoly said. Everyone I know has Back in Black, but very few have any other albums by AC/DC.

Not always. Eagles Greatest Hits was followed by Hotel California and The Long Run and then Greatest Hits 2. Stones followed Hot Rocks with Exile on Main Street, Goat's Head Soup,etc., etc.

Greatest Hits/Best of/Anthologies/Live are released for a variety of reasons: to fulfill a contract obligation, to put something out while you take a year or two off, make good Christmas presents, old farts(like me) may not want to repurchase everything on cd just essential songs. It's not unheard of for a band/artist to benchmark an era of their career with a compilation. With the exception of rock, especially classic album rock, popular music is a hit driven industry and most people just want the hits. Best of compilations open up another market for album oriented music.

Yep, I'd say that goes for at least AC/DC. Even if the idea was just to put out a greatest hits disc from the Scott years, you're going to lose all of those '74 Jailbreak sales and the like.

What about the box set that metallica released, I never bought it, but as a big metallica fan back then I really wanted it.

I thought Greatest Hits albums were generally released by the record company with or without the consent of the band. Look how many greatest hits albums RHCP has for heavens sake! But I have to agree AC/DC and Metallica are overdue, I wonder why no such album is planned.

Is Sony even finished re-releasing AC/DC's catalog? Perhaps they're waiting for the sales to simmer down before firing up the GH machine. If I remember right, they did pay a huge amount for the catalog, so you'd think they'd want to pimp it as much as possible.

One thing that really bothers me about "best of" and "greatest hits" is that they always have new or unreleased tracks so people who already have all the albums still have to buy the "Greatest Hits" collection.

Also, ever notice that whenever there is a "best of" there is always one or two essential tracks that are convieniently left off. (assuming so you will buy the back catalogue)

I'm more concerned about U2 not having an acceptable live album yet.

That's where itunes, or it's equivalent, comes in. Unless, of course, you are one of those who has a problem with the drm or bitrate.

The only Greatest Hits I own that doesn't do that is Ratts 81 91, I can't think of one song thats missing off there.

If I owned the rights for AC\DC or Metallica I know I'd be pimpin!

Are the old albums possibly OOP? There would be no incentive to get people to buy what they're not making.

...or it's an artist (like AC/DC and Metallica) that isn't on any of the services.

I wish AC-DC would releasee a Bon Scott best of collection as I do not want to buy 5-6 AC-DC cds.

Yep. AC/DC, Metallica & Pink Floyd are three artists that are discovered year after year by high schoolers fueling sales of the back catelog. All that would become null and void with a GH package.

What about it? I didn't get it back in the day (too big, too expensive, and not enough interest on my part), but they re-released it a few years ago, DVD-style. I picked it up a couple of summers ago for $25 new at Best Buy. Fantastic deal. Three CDs compiled from five shows they did in Mexico City in 1993, a DVD compiled from two San Diego shows in 1992, and another DVD made from two Seattle shows from 1989. Plus, the stencil and backstage pass are still included, and the original 72-page book was digitized and put on one of the DVDs as an extra. And it's all in a convenient, tiny double-jewel case, too.

Not a "greatest hits," really, but a nice, live overview of their career up to the Black Album--which is all anyone really needs, anyway.

Correct as usual, King Cory.



Released thirty-nine years ago.

Obviously "Greatest Hits" albums don't span a 5 year career like they did back in 1967, when Dylan's was first released. Pertaining to artists today, it usually does suggest exactly what I said. That, and for people who want all the radio friendly tracks on one album, whereas the best tracks usually never see the airwaves.

Much better response than "Best Of = Fleeting Career." Still don't agree with it, though, necessarily. For every hits compilation that an artist cashes in on after just a handful of albums (Hilary Duff and the Gin Blossoms are notorious examples of this), there's another compilation released by an artist who legitimately deserves it (I'm thinking Sheryl Crow and U2 here, for example--and neither of them are showing any signs of slowing down any time soon). Putting out a hits package doesn't always mean that a band's career is over. It could be for any number of reasons, most of which rw2516 covered in an earlier reply.

Again, not necessarily. For big fans of a band, it's always fashionable to disown The Big Hit Single, but The Big Hit Single has to be somewhat good, or it wouldn't be The Big Hit Single in the first place. There have been plenty of times when an artist's single is the only decent track on the album, and the rest of the album is garbage.

as far as ACDC is concerned ive heard the band has so far nixed any ideas of a greatest hits album.

I want to say the reasoning was that such an album would cheapen the whole catalogue. so ACDC "live" is about as close as you are going to get. Some copies of "Who Made Who" had a greatest hits sticker put on the album but it was really just the soundtrack to the movie.