Top 500: 60. Trout Mask Replica

If this isn't the most challenging album in the enitire pop music canon, I don't know what is. I have never been a big fan of the avant garde. It really can't be called 'Pop' music, it is just the opposite. In fact it struggles and defies popular culture. I have stuggled listening to this one off and on for months now and I can safely say that after reading all of the reviews on it, that I get it. I can hear and understand how complicated this music is. It is very difficult to create something that is this percise and have it sound so chaotic, without it being total chaos and actually hold together and have some form. In fact, this mught be as far from organization as you can get without falling apart. That's partly the point here. And on that end, it's a rousing success. The only question is why? The music surely is interesting and a conversation starter. It also inspired others to take risks and see how far they could stretch. It's like other forms of art that had to see how far you can push the limits so that others could come after and play something that dosen't seem nearly as strange anymore because you've been exposed to this. For this reason, I suppose that this is an important album. What it fails to do IMHO, is entertain. It's just not something that you can pop on while driving in the car and sing along too. Or even get lost in. It tries, with its atonal arithymical ways to irritate the listener. It just doesn't end up being an enjoyable experience.