Pink Floyd’s Run of Perfection
I heard a podcast years ago where they talked about bands that had a trifecta of perfect albums in a row. It was all very subjective and based on personal opinions of course, but I have thought a lot about that over the years.
Which bands or artists have had a string of 3 or more perfect albums in a row? This is good dinner or car trip discussion material. The fun is in how you define "perfect" of course. Once you have that defined for yourself then you can just go create your list.
There is one artist I have not been able to top yet in my lists of perfect runs. They have 4 perfect albums and I think anyone who knows rock or pop music of the last century would at least not violently disagree. Everyone may not fully agree, but they would at least concede the point that subjectively to some it would be true. What makes this even better is this group bookends this run of perfection with two other albums that are close to perfect as well.
Pink Floyd from 1973 - 1979 made 4 perfect albums. The first on that list, "Dark Side of the Moon", has spent 962 (as of February 2022) weeks on Billboards top 200 List. Eclipsing (pun intended) all other albums. Almost doubling the number two longest running album on that list. It stayed on that list for 736 consecutive weeks when it was released yet hit number 1 on that list for only 1 week. That is a run from 1973 to 1988. It has been on and off that chart ever since. It is one of the bestselling albums worldwide of all time, and in the 25 bestselling in America.
The sales are NOT what makes this one perfect. The music, lyrics, packaging, and more are. I add the worldwide success just to show that I'm obviously not alone here.
Four perfect albums in a row:
"Dark Side of the Moon" - 1973
"Wish You Were Here" - 1975
"Animals" - 1977
"The Wall" - 1979
In my opinion I would add a very, very close to perfect album in their 1971 release "Meddle". In this album you can see their musical direction they would take for the next decade coming together in the song "Echoes". It is close to being on the list, but it just is not quite as perfect as the others.
I would also add one that most fans so not like as much as I do - the 1983 release, "The Final Cut." I see it as the follow up to "The Wall." The problem with this one is it is very much a Roger Water's album. The band had stopped working as a group by this point, and the magic that creative differences can create if you struggle to work together was gone.
I have a tough time finding any other artist with 6 great albums in a row, and 4 of them being perfect. Ideas??
