Talk:Midnight Special (Lead Belly album)

Notability
Hello,

I would like to remove the notability tag from this article. I would argue that his album is notable. Addressing the points in Notability:


 * Points 3, 4, and 5 do not apply: RIAA certifications and the Grammys both started in 1958, more than 10 years after the album release. And these songs were not used for another medium.


 * Points 2 and 6 are difficult because they rely on the album's contemporary popularity. Many types of art aren't appreciated in their lifetime, how would those pieces of art get past these points?


 * Point 7, there may have been mentions of this album on documentary radio or films, I am still looking into that myself. There are many mentions of both Lead Belly and Woody Guthrie on NPR.


 * That leaves point 1, in my opinion this article does meet point 1: "has been the subject of multiple, non-trivial, published works appearing in sources that are reliable, not self-published, and are independent from the musician or ensemble who created it." All the sources I cited are independent. The two books I cited are reliable sources, they are both written by experts. Billboard is a reliable source for release dates. It uses the term "multiple," which is ambiguous term. Technically the only definition for multiple is "more than one." Using that definition, this article meets point 1.

I just wrote this explanation quickly. I am willing to discuss this in more depth. I have more points about why I think this information is relevant, outside the above points. Hengeste (talk) 17:03, 14 June 2021 (UTC)
 * Please note that none of this demonstrates that the album is notable – it just proves it exists and the date of its release. The fact it exists and that it is by a notable artist is not enough, it has to demonstrate individual notability. Richard3120 (talk) 23:35, 14 June 2021 (UTC)


 * OK, so how does an album "demonstrate individual notability"? I'm new to Wikipedia editing and I'm surprised how vague some of their guidelines are. I tried to address all the points on the notability page. The article cites two books that are written by experts in their field and both books specifically mention this album. I realize two isn't a lot. So if your argument is that I need more sources, I can understand that. Arguing a negative is impossible, obviously you can't cite evidence that says an album isn't notable. Therefore I must argue the positive, that the album is notable. To support my argument, I need to follow some criteria or guideline, which I'm more than willing to do. I just need to know how to do it. Hengeste (talk) 15:07, 15 June 2021 (UTC)

I previously made an argument as to why this article is notable and I used direct quotes from Wikipedia's guidelines. Although one user claimed this article is NOT notable, they did not cite any evidence to build their argument. I asked a direct question and never received a response. For the record, every other album by Lead Belly has been considered notable without controversy. I will go ahead and remove the notability tag as I believe this album to be notable. If you disagree, please discuss here! Hengeste (talk) 16:33, 1 September 2021 (UTC)

Article importance
I would also like to make a statement about this article's importance. (Yes, I understand that importance and notability are two different things. I'm not trying to construe them.) This article is important specifically as a tertiary source. Lead Belly has one of the most complicated discographies of any musician in the 20th century. Information like recording dates, matrix numbers, catalog numbers, and release dates are not available as a simple reference. For example, Blues and Gospel Records 1902-1943 does not have release dates. In order to get all this information, users would have to read through biographies. Having this information in a tertiary source such as Wikipedia gives users a convenient reference location. Hengeste (talk) 15:31, 15 June 2021 (UTC)