In a world of streaming algorithms and smart playlists that think they know your mood better than you do:
There’s still nothing quite like a handpicked compilation album. Executed correctly, a great compilation isn’t a mere collection. It’s a cultural artifact.
An audio version of the Wayback Machine, dials set to “preserve” to respectfully archive forgotten tracks.
And quite often, serving as a surprise springboard for new musical movements.
With an honorific song title borrowed from each collection: Let’s take a look at some of the most essential “various artists” compilations ever assembled. Whether you’re a lifelong collector or just enjoy exploring beyond the greatest hits, these important anthologies will expand your mind, ears and soul.
Psychotic Reaction:
Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era (1972)
All the way back in 1972, long before we had anything like The Internet Archive, poet, guitarist, music writer and sometime record producer Lenny Kaye was looking to the past. He saw the importance of preservation and re-discovery of post-British Invasion psychedelic and garage rock.
Kaye collected a trove memorable yet largely forgotten singles primarily from the ’60s that, in radio programming parlance, “had fallen out of heavy rotation.”
The result was Nuggets: the OG compilation of obscurities that launched a thousand bands.
With tracks like “Pushin’ Too Hard” by The Seeds and “I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night)” by The Electric Prunes, this collection didn’t just celebrate the past, it revived it.
Kaye’s tasteful curation and scholarly knowledge was perfect. The compilation is credited with helping to revive interest in the music of the era, and was a direct influence on the late 1970s punk movement. In the rock history scrapbook of essential compilations, Nuggets would be on the cover.
Life During Wartime:
No New York (1978)
In 1978, downtown Manhattan was buzzing with a sound even punk wasn’t ready for. No New York captured the raw nerve of the no wave scene:
A short-lived but deeply influential moment when music threw out melody and leaned into pure confrontation.
Curated by Brian Eno, No New York featured tracks like DNA’s seizure-inducing “Not Moving” and The Contortions’ spasmodic “Dish It Out.” How to describe the sound?
It’s what happened when art school met the CBGB’s bathroom:
Gloriously unlistenable noise that somehow became profoundly influential. The compilation’s reach extends far beyond its initial cult status. It served as crucial documentation, inspiring generations of artists to confront and push against the norm.
Communist Radio:
Killed By Death (1980s–1990s)
Imagine a hidden cache of punk singles so obscure that even the bands’ mothers may not remember them. That’s Killed By Death, a rogue compilation series devoted to unearthing the rawest, rarest, and most gloriously unpolished punk from the late ’70s and early ’80s.
A series of bootleg compilation albums, KBD was initiated around 1988 by Swedish record collector Johan Kugelberg.
The KBD series holds a significant, albeit a different, kind of influence compared to No New York.
Instead of defining a specific scene, KBD’s impact lies in unearthing, popularizing, and mythologizing obscure punk rock from primarily the late 1970s and early 1980s.
The series inadvertently contributed to the idea of “KBD punk” as an actual, distinct subgenre:
Which was often characterized by a raw sound, regional origins, and the fact that the bands often released only a single or two before fading into obscurity.
Expect scratchy production, chaotic energy, and band names that sound like they came from a bad B-movie. For true believers in stripped-down spirit and sonic grit, this one’s a rite of passage.
Looking for the Perfect Beat:
Street Sounds (1983–1988)
Before hip hop became global, before dance music took over the charts, there was Street Sounds.
The series was the brainchild of Morgan Khan, a UK entrepreneur and music enthusiast.
Khan created Street Sounds out of his own frustration at the difficulty and expense of importing the latest US 12-inch singles of electro and early hip-hop into the UK.
The albums typically featured full-length versions of tracks, unlike the often-edited versions found on mainstream compilations of the time (like budget curations from K-Tel). Anticipation for the next release of the series contributed to the excitement of the project.
Featuring tracks by Afrika Bambaataa, Newcleus, Hashim, and Man Parrish, this was the sound of the future arriving via boom box.
Kahn was lauded not only for his talent for curation, but for the for the affordability as well. The Street Sounds albums were priced significantly lower than buying the individual import singles, making the music accessible to a wider audience, especially young people with limited funds.
Each volume felt urgent, fresh, and slightly dangerous: perfect for soundtracking cardboard breakdance battles or late-night bedroom revolutions.
From The Subway:
C86 (1986)
Released by the UK’s New Musical Express magazine, the original C86 cassette sounded like a generation of bands had suddenly discovered jangly guitars and emotional honesty at the same moment.
The compilation was a sequel to C81:
A precursor and earlier documenting of the burgeoning post-punk and independent music scene of the early 1980s.
C86 is widely considered to be the more important release. It is credited with codifying and popularizing the sound that would become known as indie pop.
The name “C86” was a play on the time-capacity labeling of blank cassette tapes, combined with the year of release. Like the KBD series, the term became synonymous with this style: Bands that sounded similar, regardless of whether they were on the original tape, were often categorized as “C86 bands.”
While intended as a promotional tool for the magazine and the featured bands, C86 became a surprising commercial success and had a far greater cultural impact than initially anticipated.
It reportedly sold around 40,000 copies.
Featuring early work from Primal Scream, The Pastels, and The Wedding Present, the compilation felt intimate, DIY, immediate, and charmingly underproduced.
C86 didn’t just reflect a scene – it named one.
Even today, the phrase “C86 band” conjures a very specific sound: melodic, slightly scrappy – and heartfelt to the core.
Did we leave out your go-to compilation? Is your favorite deep cut still waiting for the recognition it deserves? Drop us a comment and keep the conversation spinning.
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Some excellent choices. Nuggets played a big part in my musical education, the greatest compilation there is IMHO.
Last year I read Whatever Happened To The C86 Kids? An Indie Odyssey. Music journalist Nige Tassell tracked down all the bands on the cassette to go over how they came to be on it, what it meant to them and what happened next.
Primal Scream, Soup Dragons, Wedding Present and Fuzzbox (in the UK at least) went onto be familiar names but it’s just as interesting in covering what happened to the other 18 bands who didn’t trouble the charts. Some people stayed in the music industry, others ended up in a whole range of everyday jobs. And not so everyday as one became Jeremy Irons body double!
A personal favourite compilation is Annie On One from 1996. Compiled by Radio 1 DJ, Annie Nightingale from her overnight chill out zone show, broadcast in the weekend post clubbing hours. She was at the cutting edge of dance music culture despite being in her mid 50s at the time. With admirable stamina she carried on presenting the show into her 80s before her death last year.
https://www.discogs.com/release/155468-Various-Annie-On-One?srsltid=AfmBOoraL51L_I6uNLtoEAbvUom1Ku0jUmJAfAM8D6JACPsYfJqHiFV9
The heavy representation of early punk here makes my juvenile heart happy. I’d add some Boston-specific punk/new wave compilations like DIY: Mass. Ave., This Is Boston Not LA, and A Wicked Good Time, Volumes 1 and 2. I love them all.
But the one you should listen to if you’re interested in early hardcore punk is Let Them Eat Jellybeans. Side 1 starts off with five amazing bangers by Flipper, D.O.A., Black Flag, Bad Brains, and Dead Kennedys. It’s an adrenaline rush straight to the cranium. Side 2 is more experimental but just as influential to the post punk world.
Let Them Eat Jellybeans has been out of print for decades now, mostly because Black Flag won’t give the label rights to re-release their song. However, you can find playlist of it on the streaming services. It’s, as they say in Boston, a wicked good time.
I have somehow missed all of these. Can’t wait to dig in.
Fantastic, mt. I was particularly intrigued by Nuggets. I squinted to see the track listings in the photo. The fact that I was an infant when these songs came out but I knew 9 out of the 15 just by their titles, is testimony that the compilation likely did its job. Plus, The Cryan’ Shames, Amboy Dukes and Shadows of Knight are all on it, three bands out of Chicago. The Cryan’ Shames still sound great live on “Sugar and Spice”, nearly 60 years later, not that anyone asked.
Now I need to listen to the whole thing.
On a 15 hour drive to play a gig in Texas, my older drummer, my younger sax player, and I listened to Nuggets. The drummer knew every song, the sax player knew none of them, and they both loved it. You will, too.
Cosigning.
When offering suggestions to other people about what to listen to, nothing is really a sure thing – there are just so many different kinds of artists out there that not everything is for everybody.
That said, Nuggets is as close as it gets to universal appeal. I can virtually assure any serious music fan that is interested, it will not be a waste of time and you’ll enjoy the variety, creativity, and nostalgia.
Even if you weren’t around to experience at the first time!
I just looked it up on Wikipedia, and there were over a dozen volumes! Most look pretty good, too.
I’ve seen several of the Nuggets collections in record shops but never felt the urge to pick one up. (I know … strange.) Now, I will. Thanks!