Note the amusing juxtapositioning of the following sentences within the SAME posting!

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Aiwass - I didnt even bother reading your massive post!
[/B]

And

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Cheers Eggman, looks like your the only one here who can read properly!
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I read that! Doctor heal yourself!

Monster albums? What would be a monster album for me would be different to what would be a monster album for Axl. Personally I'm more interested in what albums inspire the kinds of progressive musicians I listen to than what makes a killing through MTV sales. The fact is, particularly as video and TV are increasingly dominant over radio, beauty sells more than talent.
Sales go down as melodies become longer because fewer people can get to grips with more complex music. Short catchy hooks are fine as far as many people are concerned.
There is such a thing as musician's music; more syncopation, stranger scales, more modulations, longer melodic lines, wider chords, more technical prowess etc.
Knowing most of Dream Theater's music and having heard some symphony X I think that Aiwas's tastes are more of this ilk.

Here are my Monster albums:

Rush: Exit Stage Left 1982
King Crimson: Indiscipline 1984
Joe Satriani: Surfing with the Alien 1987
Pearl Jam: Ten 1991
Shaun Baxter: Open Invitation 1992
Extreme: Three sides to every Story 1992
Joe Satriani: The Extremist 1992
Hellecasters: Hell III: New Axes to Grind 1992
Dream Theater: Awake 1994