Greatest Hits albums are one of the biggest swindles of the music industry. Well, Greatest Hits albums and Cher Farewell Tours, of course. But, I have to admit, they do serve their purpose. Back in the days before iPods, when we had to carry several cds or tapes with us, like when we were going on a trip and couldn’t bring all our music, it was convenient to just grab Billy Joel’s Greatest Hits I & II and leave Glass Houses, An Innocent Man and Storm Front behind. But unfortunately, people began to just buy a Greatest Hits cd and forget about the albums that came before. I will not deny that Billy Joel’s Greatest Hits I & II isn’t a phenomenal double-cd. It truly is. And there’s a reason why Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975) by the Eagles is the best selling record with 29 million copies sold in the United States alone (tied with another record for that title). But albums like An Innocent Man, Turnstiles, and Piano Man by Billy Joel hold amazing material not present on his Greatest Hits Volume I & II. Sometimes, greatest hits albums go too far. Do you know that Poison has released seven studio albums? They’ve also released seven greatest hits collections. 
Whenever I met somebody at Oswego, and I’d be in their room, presumably drinking a few beers or whatnot, I’d always take a look at the cds they had with them. I always found it interesting to see what other people listened to. When I first came to Oswego, I brought with me my entire cd collection that numbered at just under 500 cds. I remember one girl I was involved with said that she was a he Billy Joel fan, and as proof she had his Greatest Hits cds. When I asked her if she liked ‘Summer, Highland Falls’ or ‘If I Only Had The Words (To Tell You),’ she wasn’t aware of those songs. ‘I’ve Loved These Days’ is probably one of Billy Joel’s greatest songs, but it’s not on Greatest Hits Volume I. To me, all those albums that come before a greatest hits package are the true treasures. Sure, maybe you can skip over 1974’s Streetlife Serenade, but still, if you did, you would totally miss out on ‘Souvenir,’ a song I only recently truly came to appreciate as a gem.
I will admit, until May of 2001, the only Springsteen cd I owned was the Greatest Hits cd that came out in 1995. My parents had a few of the albums, Born To Run, Darkness On The Edge Of Town, and Born In The USA as well as the Live/1975-85 box set, which would be the next Springsteen entry to my collection. Over the next year-and-a-half I would accumulate the remaining albums of his catalogue. These have absolutely broadened not only my musical horizons, but also affected the way I feel for others, the way I write, and the way I feel about the world around me.
I know most people don’t ‘get’ music like I do. I don’t think I’ve ever met someone who has such a constant need to have music surrounding them. I have come to accept that some people are content with their greatest hits collections, and that they are quite fine turning off their radio when that last track finishes.
