If I want to get into a band, is it smarter to first buy their Greatest Hits album, or something else?

I think you should check what CDs the songs you already have are from, and buy the CD containing your favourite song. It should give you a good idea of what they are all about.. This is a good idea because many bands mature and their sound changes from their first to their most recent CD and even if you love the first CD you might hate the most recent.

Example - Modest Mouse's new CD is a crock of s*** compared to the first; Fleetwood Mac's early CDs are heaven while the "newer" ones with Christine McVie, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks make me want to tear my ears off.

I wouldn't suggest buying a Greatest Hits album because they usually have the bands most mainstream/ popular songs, and many of the best songs by any given band are the ones that weren't released as singles and probably wouldn't be on the Greatest Hits.

Another reason why I would advise against buying a Greatest Hits album, is because when a band makes a CD they have a particular mindset and put the songs in a particular order because it means something to them. A Greatest Hits album is inconsistent with the vision of the separate CDs that the songs are off.

Good luck!

Either way, I don't think it makes the HUGEST difference what order you buy them in, or even if you buy the Greatest Hits - if you like the band chances are you'll like most (if not all) of it :)

First, hit up their Myspace, and then Youtube. Myspace will give you an idea of a band's current state of affairs, and if you pay attention to the comments on Youtube, you can figure out suggestions as to what other songs by them you might like. Then, instead of buying a greatest hits album (a "make-money" albums, essentially, since most bands only put of few of their really good songs on them), you can actually pick up a specific cd.

Start with their newest album. Find out they are doing now, fundamentally. Then buy some of their older CD's that represent how they've changed over the years.

That will give you a good picture of what they value fundamentally. Some bands are obsessive about time/tempo being spot on. Others are obsessive about tuning. Others value virtuosity. Most bands make changes to their style, based on their core values (ie their particular beliefs about music). You have to find out what fundamental aspects they value the most. That's how you win an audition. You should only need to buy a few CD's. Don't forget to practice your tail off. Master the fundamentals.

Read reviews and such.

Greatest hits always tend to spread out band's "hits" across all their albums, even though some albums will be undeniably better than others.

Albums are supposed to be ingested as a whole, they're moar than the some of their parts.

So yeah, buy the studio albums.

that's how i did it:in 2003 i bought the who's ultimate collection and after listening to that i went out and bought tommy,live at leeds,quadrophenia,who by numbers,and who are you.in 2004,i bought the nirvana greatest hits and that in turn made me buy nevermind.in 2005,after having bought one of the many beach boys greatest hits albums a year or so earlier and after doing my research on this album,i went out and bought pet sounds,later that year i bought the box set and that in turn made me buy the smiley smile,wild honey,friends,20/20,sunflower,surf's up,carl and the passions "so tough",and holland albums.

i have quite a few of these stories,but yes the greatest hits collections were how i got started

Yeah i'm like that.

Greatest Hits is the way to go, but I've seen the tracklisting for it, and they've left out some great ones.

"Greatest Hits" has a seperate meaning from "Best of" i guess.

you should buy the greatest hits cds first as it has all their best songs on it and then all the cds with other songs that you havent heard yet

buy it then buy the album with the song(s) you like on it in a few months

yea get their normal cd's