If You Don't Like This, You're Wrong

It's been a while since I've posted -- stay tuned for format changes.

But for now, I have to get this out there. My friend Mike does not care for Radiohead much -- he's heard the big singles, but he's just not a fan of the band. Even though he's already pretty sure he's decided on Radiohead, I've told him that he can't just dismiss them without giving them a fair shake by listening to OK Computer, one of the greatest and most influential albums of the 90s (and probably of our generation). Mike was putting up a bit of a stink about it, and finally Danny Macintosh and I flatly said to him: If you don't like this, you're wrong.

Obviously, all forms of art -- including music -- have beauty or lack thereof in the eye of the beholder. Some things are just so perfect and well-crafted, though, that to not like them really does seem wrong -- like you're tragically missing out on some aspect of the human emotional experience by not being able to appreciate it.

So I wondered, apart from OK Computer, what else has attained "if you don't like this, you're wrong" status? This is my list -- feel free to leave suggestions. These might seem obvious, by the way, but that's the point: It's not your personal, quirky, desert-island music / high art, but rather stuff that you or any other rational person would unquestionably say someone who hates it is wrong.

If You Don't Like This, You're Wrong

• Mozart - Requiem Mass in D minor: Perfect harmonies and instrumentation carried Mozart's music toward early Romanticism and Beethoven. If you've seen Amadeus, you have a sense of what this piece meant to the composer personally, too.
  
  
• Led Zeppelin IV: This suggestion comes from Mike. I'd tend to agree that most any Led Zeppelin work belongs here -- maybe even the entire repertoire.
  
  
• The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band: Just an unreal album that changed rock completely.
  
  
• Beethoven's Ninth Symphony in E minor: Gets my vote for greatest work of art in the history of Western civilization.
  
  
• The Shawshank Redemption: Just about the perfect movie. I know there are lots of "perfect movies," and I am sure I can find someone who could nitpick with me about Shawshank, but come on. The human drama, the intertwining storylines, the honest feeling of rooting for Andy the whole time, and the unbelievable ending... and the greatest bro-hug in the history of film to cap it all off. Even JAMES ARTHUR BOEHEIM III thinks this is the best movie ever. And he just landed Fab de Melo -- so there.
  Other movie candidates: The Graduate, Godfather I and/or II, Rocky I, Saving Private Ryan... and boy, that's about it.
  

There are TONS more but I don't have time to list them all right now so let me know what you think!