I have a hard time really coming up with an answer though. It's like which is better, some Van Dyke Park album that only a tiny fraction of music listeners have ever heard, or Pet Sounds
from a critical perspective there is a strong argument to be made that Brian Wilson cheapened and commodified the trails which Van Dyke Park blazed and that if you are a TRUE fan of music it's obvious which one is more canonically/intelectually/artistically important
but a lot more people like Pet Sounds and sometimes delivering an artistic idea in a way which can get through to the masses is not necessarily a cheapening, but an incredible artistic feat in of itself
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