12 of the longest album titles ever released

3 March 2024, 13:00

Naming your album is a tricky process... here are some examples that have caused a few double-takes in record shops over the years.

By Radio X

@RadioX

On 3rd March 2008, the anarcho-punk band Chumbawamba released their thirteenth album, commonly known as The Boy Bands Have Won. In actual fact, the full title is an eye-popping 156 words long - a world record.

How did we get to that point? Radio X looks at the longest album titles ever conceived.

1. Difficult Shapes And Passive Rhythms Some People Think It's Fun To Entertain

   • China Crisis. 1982
   • The excellently-titled debut album from the post-punk Liverpool band.

   

2. Squirrel And G-Man 24 Hour Party People Plastic Face Carnt Smile (White Out)

   • Happy Mondays, 1987.
   • The Mondays' first album from 1987 is a textbook bad album title: very long (check), misspelling ("carnt"?), parentheses ((check)). It's only memorable because of the catchy title track.

   

3. Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through The Eyes Of Madness.

   • Coheed And Cambria, 2005.
   • And that was only volume ONE from the New York rockers.

   

4. I Like It When You Sleep - For You Are So Beautiful, Yet So Unaware Of It

   • The 1975, 2016
   • The Manchester band's second album is now the longest title to ever make No 1 in the US. Bravo, Matty Healy!

   

5. There Is A Hell, Believe Me I've Seen It. There Is A Heaven, Let's Keep It A Secret.

   • Bring Me the Horizon, 2010
   • This was balanced by the short and to the point title “Amo”, released in 2019.

   

6. Frank Sidebottom Salutes The Magic Of Freddie Mercury And Queen And Also Kylie Minogue (You Know... Her Off "Neighbours")

   • Frank Sidebottom, 1987
   • God bless Frank (and Little Frank). Nothing says "1987" more than the title of this mini-album.

   

7. My People Were Fair And Had Sky In Their Hair But Now They're Content To Wear Stars On Their Brows

   • Tyrannosaurus Rex, 1968
   • The ultimate "hippy nonsense" album title, back when Marc Bolan was a flower child and not the world-conquering glam superstar he would later become.

   

8. No More Stories Are Told Today, I'm Sorry They Washed Away // No More Stories, the World Is Grey, I'm Tired, Let's Wash Away

   • Mew, 2009
   • Hey it’s like a little poem in itself! This was the Danish indie band’s fifth album.

   

9. This Is It And I Am It And You Are It And So Is That And He Is It And She Is It And It Is It And That Is That

   • Marnie Stern, 2008.
   • Are you following this? The title to this experimental rock album is taken from a quote from the book On The Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are, right?

   

10. Fiona Apple - When the Pawn Hits the Conflicts He Thinks Like A King What He Knows Throws The Blows When He Goes To The Fight And He'll Win The Whole Thing 'Fore He Enters The Ring There's No Body To Batter When Your Mind Is Your Might So When You Go Solo, You Hold Your Own Hand And Remember That Depth Is The Greatest Of Heights And If You Know Where You Stand, Then You'll Know Where to Land And If You Fall It Won't Matter, Cuz You Know That You're Right

    This album was… sorry, we've run out of space.

    

11. Most of the remixes we've made for other people over the years except for the one for Einstürzende Neubauten because we lost it and a few we didn't think sounded good enough or just didn't fit in length-wise, but including some that are hard to find because either people forgot about them or simply because they haven't been released yet, a few we really love, one we think is just ok, some we did for free, some we did for money, some for ourselves without permission and some for friends as swaps but never on time and always at our studio in Ghent

    • Soulwax, 2007
    • This was the album where... oh no, we've run out of room!

    

12. The Boy Bands Have Won, And All the Copyists And The Tribute Bands And The TV Talent Show Producers Have Won If We Allow Our Culture To Be Shaped By Mimicry, Whether From Lack Of Ideas Or From Exaggerated Respect. You Should Never Try To Freeze Culture. What You Can Do Is Recycle That Culture. Take Your Older Brother's Hand-Me-Down Jacket And Re-Style It, Re-Fashion It To The Point Where It Becomes Your Own. But Don't Just Regurgitate Creative History, Or Hold Art And Music And Literature As Fixed, Untouchable And Kept Under Glass. The People Who Try To "Guard" Any Particular Form Of Music Are, Like The Copyists And Manufactured Bands, Doing It The Worst Disservice, Because The Only Thing That You Can Do To Music That Will Damage It Is Not Change It, Not Make It Your Own. Because Then It Dies, Then It's Over, Then It's Done And The Boy Bands Have Won

    • Chumbawamba, 2008.
    • MP John Prescott’s favourite band released this snappily-titled epic, which is - according to the Guinness Book Of World Records - the longest album title of all time at 156 words.