Critically Reviled Albums That You Actually Enjoy

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...and don't feel the least bit guilty about. Let Go by Avril Lavigne rocks my world, OK? I don't give a shit who wrote the songs or whether she's a real punk or any of that jazz. If it feels good, do it, maaan...

― lovebug starski, Monday, 22 March 2004 11:58 (twenty years ago) link

Was Avril's album reviled?

― scott seward (scott seward), Monday, 22 March 2004 12:22 (twenty years ago) link

Actually, I'd love it if someonw refreshed my memory and could point out examples of "recent" albums that were universally panned and considered shit by a majority of critics. Jacko's last album comes to mind, and even that had its defenders. Is anything truly "reviled" these days? Maybe in the U.K. more than U.S. Cuz it seems like when these threads come up people always say, "well, I like Trans" or "I kinda like that 30 year old Dylan album that people didn't like".

― scott seward (scott seward), Monday, 22 March 2004 12:26 (twenty years ago) link

Liz Phair probably got the lowest marks of anything recently, though it is not without defenders.

― Sym (shmuel), Monday, 22 March 2004 12:49 (twenty years ago) link

Nothing ever gets a good slagging in the music press these days, which is a shame.

― Dr. C (Dr. C), Monday, 22 March 2004 12:50 (twenty years ago) link

Limp Bizkit's last record?

― Barry Bruner (Barry Bruner), Monday, 22 March 2004 12:52 (twenty years ago) link

Yeah, i just thought of that one too. I don't think i read anything good about the Bizkit album.

― scott seward (scott seward), Monday, 22 March 2004 12:55 (twenty years ago) link

Second Stone Roses album and various Sarah/Shinkansen albums.

― flowersdie (flowersdie), Monday, 22 March 2004 12:56 (twenty years ago) link

haha, thee entirety of prog rock for me.

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Monday, 22 March 2004 13:02 (twenty years ago) link

I quite like the second Elastica album, which was reviled. Also the third Sleeper album, though it took me years to start liking it.

― Bunged Out (Jake Proudlock), Monday, 22 March 2004 13:20 (twenty years ago) link

This Is Our Art (Soup Dragons)
Tubular Bells

― Jez (Jez), Monday, 22 March 2004 13:33 (twenty years ago) link

maybe "generally reviled" works better. Scott Seward is right about the lack of critical consensus these days. Still, it takes GUTS to cop to Tubular Bells! We're talking non-ironic appreciation here, so later for the Klostermann-esque tongue-in-cheese mentions of Journey, etc. That said, I always thought "Oh Sherrie" was a great single.

― lovebug starski, Monday, 22 March 2004 13:47 (twenty years ago) link

I loved Tubular Bells 2 for a while...before I liked music...it still enters my head sometimes.

― Ashamed IlXor, Monday, 22 March 2004 13:49 (twenty years ago) link

That's funny, and it reminds me of a circa 1980 T shirt slogan: Heavy Metal: Better than Music! And I didn't know there WAS a TB2.

― lovebug starski, Monday, 22 March 2004 14:21 (twenty years ago) link

Was Graham Coxon's first solo album critically reviled? If so, then that one.

― roxymuzak (roxymuzak), Monday, 22 March 2004 15:35 (twenty years ago) link

"Tubular Bells" was certainly NOT critically reviled when it was released.

― Dadaismus (Dada), Monday, 22 March 2004 15:38 (twenty years ago) link

all of them! people have shit taste in music.

― stockholm cindy (Jody Beth Rosen), Monday, 22 March 2004 17:57 (twenty years ago) link

Like Flies on Sherbert

― Colin Beckett (Colin Beckett), Monday, 22 March 2004 18:10 (twenty years ago) link

http://www.metacritic.com/music/

― The Huckle-Buck (Horace Mann), Monday, 22 March 2004 18:10 (twenty years ago) link

I really love Like Flies on Sherbert, too...

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Monday, 22 March 2004 18:21 (twenty years ago) link

Marcy Playground - Marcy Playground
the Black Crowes greatest hits

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Monday, 22 March 2004 18:31 (twenty years ago) link

roxy music, flesh and blood. way better than manifesto, which a lot of people like for reasons i can't understand, and not as good as avalon, but you can hardly blame an album for that. "oh yeah," "over you" and "same old scene" are all great pop singles (not sure if they were all in fact singles, but they shoud've been), and i even dig the "in the midnight hour" cover.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Monday, 22 March 2004 18:47 (twenty years ago) link

Everett True gave The Second Coming a glowing review. (It's a very underrated record IMO)

― Rob Branson, Monday, 22 March 2004 18:56 (twenty years ago) link

Is anything truly "reviled" these days?

Following Huckle-Buck's lead, here's the Meta-Critic bottom ten:

Phil Collins Testify (Score 31)
Juliana Hatfield Juliana's Pony: Total System Failure (33)
Limp Bizkit Results May Vary (33)
Master P Gameface (35)
Enya A Day Without Rain (35)
Rod Stewart It Had to Be You...The Great American Songbook (37)
Puddle of Mudd Life on Display (37)
Run DMC Crown Royal (38)
Mariah Carey Charm Bracelet (38)
Liz Phair Liz Phair (38)

Rule of thumb: rating lower than the Jennifer Love Hewitt album="reviled"

― brian patrick (brian patrick), Monday, 22 March 2004 19:23 (twenty years ago) link

Mariah Carey Charm Bracelet (38)

I liked Mariah's cover of "Bringin' on the Heartbreak."

― stockholm cindy (Jody Beth Rosen), Monday, 22 March 2004 19:29 (twenty years ago) link

Juliana's Pony had its moments.

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Monday, 22 March 2004 19:39 (twenty years ago) link

Be Here Now

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Monday, 22 March 2004 19:45 (twenty years ago) link

Gin Blossoms -- New Miserable Experience
Best Kissers In the Word -- Be Here Now
anything by the Eagles

― devon (popmatters devon), Monday, 22 March 2004 21:01 (twenty years ago) link

Oops, I mean Best Kissers, Been There

― devon (popmatters devon), Monday, 22 March 2004 21:01 (twenty years ago) link

if you think Klosterman secretly hates the stuff he writes glowing things about you're very mistaken.

― Matos W.K. (M Matos), Tuesday, 23 March 2004 04:15 (twenty years ago) link

and Liz Phair finished top 40 in Pazz & Jop, which at the very least makes it "mixed," reception-wise. though the bad reviews were very bad indeed.

― Matos W.K. (M Matos), Tuesday, 23 March 2004 04:18 (twenty years ago) link

Iron Maiden - No Prayer for the Dying.

This shit is so bad that it is good. "Bring you daughter... to the slaughter..."

Iron Maiden became a better band at the moment they stopped being serious.

― Elvis is Dead, Tuesday, 23 March 2004 05:25 (twenty years ago) link

Haha, Chingy all the way, motherfuckers.

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 23 March 2004 05:27 (twenty years ago) link

The fuck? Escape and Departure are really good solid pop-rock albums, with some well-executed fusion leanings on Departure. Not earth-shattering or anything but they are good albums. Sure, they're kind of drippy but so're a lot of things, including lots of acclaimed pop-rock. Are they critically reviled? I enjoy them. A nice memory from the last Thanksgiving was being in my cousins' car driving to Aurora with both of them blasting and wailing along to "Dont' Stop Believin'". Also, singing along to "Open Arms" in the car with my sister.

Apparently Monster is reviled. I liked it the last time I listened.

DJ Spooky seems to get a lot of hate. I really like Modern Mantra.

― sundar subramanian (sundar), Tuesday, 23 March 2004 05:38 (twenty years ago) link

Hey, is Drukqs critically reviled? I love it.

― sundar subramanian (sundar), Tuesday, 23 March 2004 06:05 (twenty years ago) link

I quite like the second Elastica album, which was reviled.

I do to, but it was by no means universally panned:

http://www.metacritic.com/music/artists/elastica/menace/

― no opinion, Tuesday, 23 March 2004 06:25 (twenty years ago) link

Robin Trower, 'Bridge of Sighs.' I myself can point out all its flaws. But I've almost always had a copy in my collection since I was 12.

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Tuesday, 23 March 2004 08:52 (twenty years ago) link

"Metal Machine Music", tho a lot of people appreciate 25 years later. First four Queen LPs. Selexct portions of Yes, ELP, Styx and Billy Joel, esp his (fantastic!) "Attila" LP, thanks to Steven Erlewine and "Boy Howdy", who compared it to the legendary Sir Lord Baltimore. First LP by the execrable Motley Crue. Dunno what the consensus opinion of Ace of Base's The Sign was.

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Tuesday, 23 March 2004 09:13 (twenty years ago) link

I quite like Stone Temple Pilots. Especially Tiny Music. (Then again I just checked Allmusic.com and they wuv'em.)

― jesus nathalie (nathalie), Tuesday, 23 March 2004 09:17 (twenty years ago) link

Trouble is, unless we've read thirty reviews how do we know what was universally reviled?

― Bunged Out (Jake Proudlock), Tuesday, 23 March 2004 09:55 (twenty years ago) link

First LP by the execrable Motley Crue.

who are the revilers of that one? everyone i know who's heard it, motley and non-motley fans alike, consider it absolutely fab.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Tuesday, 23 March 2004 15:38 (twenty years ago) link

Oh, I like MMM too. The Yes albums I like (I've never heard anything post-Close to the Edge) seem to enjoy pretty good critical reception. I don't think the same is true of Styx, whose Classics comp is kind of fun.

Also Pat Metheny's Zero Tolerance for Silence seems unpopular with jazz critics. I like it.

― sundar subramanian (sundar), Tuesday, 23 March 2004 18:35 (twenty years ago) link

Every review I read of Good Charlotte's second album was a two-star. I'd give it five. There's other albums I think people underrated that I enjoy, but this is the only one I consider reviled. (Even Chocolate Starfish got a 7 in Spin from Xgau)

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 23 March 2004 19:09 (twenty years ago) link

one year passes...

total system failure is one of her best albums.

what's a meta critic. critics are bad enough

― ronny longjohns (ronny longjohns), Tuesday, 16 August 2005 03:18 (eighteen years ago) link

monster!!

― petesmith (plsmith), Tuesday, 16 August 2005 03:34 (eighteen years ago) link

ten months pass...

IS ROBIN TROWER NOIZE?

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Tuesday, 4 July 2006 09:44 (seventeen years ago) link

"No, really."
http://www.law.uoregon.edu/org/cla/wiggum.gif

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Tuesday, 4 July 2006 09:46 (seventeen years ago) link

"Dylan" is pretty much reviled, but I love it.

― Officer Pupp (Officer Pupp), Tuesday, 4 July 2006 11:38 (seventeen years ago) link

Alice Cooper - Pretties For You.
Now it seems to be undergoing something of a critical renaissance, but I always loved it, I tells ya!

― eyesteel (eyesteel), Tuesday, 4 July 2006 11:40 (seventeen years ago) link

I love Cake. I love all their albums, and I don't care who knows it.

― A Giant Mechanical Ant (The Giant Mechanical Ant), Tuesday, 4 July 2006 12:08 (seventeen years ago) link

Steely Dan, Gaucho
Bob Dylan, Empire Burlesque
David Bowie, Never Let Me Down

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 4 July 2006 12:30 (seventeen years ago) link

I love Cake. I love all their albums, and I don't care who knows it.

-- A Giant Mechanical Ant

If you really didn't care you'd post that under your own name.

― Mark (MarkR), Tuesday, 4 July 2006 12:57 (seventeen years ago) link

GEEZ i guess you're right. so much for my big breakthrough.

― A Giant Mechanical Ant (The Giant Mechanical Ant), Tuesday, 4 July 2006 13:18 (seventeen years ago) link

the new album by freelance hellraiser seems to be getting a fair bit of hate. fuck'em - i love its basic but fun pop-dance. whereas lily allen. urgh. so over that one...

― mark e (mark e), Tuesday, 4 July 2006 13:21 (seventeen years ago) link

The first Asia album
Tales From Topographic Oceans
Most of Squeeze by "The Velvet Underground"

― Jay Vee's Return (Manon_69), Tuesday, 4 July 2006 15:09 (seventeen years ago) link

the hardest way to make an easy living is the album of the year. fuck rock critics.

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Tuesday, 4 July 2006 15:20 (seventeen years ago) link

Not so much reviled though, the concensus was more 'not as good as the first two'.

― chap who would dare to start Raaatpackin (chap), Tuesday, 4 July 2006 15:27 (seventeen years ago) link

Love Beach--Emerson Lake & Palmer

Any well known hit by REO Speedwagon.

― kornrulez6969 (TCBeing), Tuesday, 4 July 2006 15:27 (seventeen years ago) link

People Like Us - Mamas & Papas

― timmy tannin (pompous), Tuesday, 4 July 2006 15:28 (seventeen years ago) link

Blind Melon's first record is terrific ... I think I'm in the minority on that one.

― O'Connor (OConnorScribe), Tuesday, 4 July 2006 15:32 (seventeen years ago) link

Definitely agreed. Soup is even better, imo.

GOD IT FEELS GOOD TO SAY THAT

― A Giant Mechanical Ant (The Giant Mechanical Ant), Tuesday, 4 July 2006 15:39 (seventeen years ago) link

I quite liked Urge Overkill's "Exit the Dragon," despite the tepid critical and public reception. In fact, I thought it was easily the best album in the band's mediocre-at-best discography.

― Binjominia (Brilhante), Tuesday, 4 July 2006 15:56 (seventeen years ago) link

You guys sure make a lot of these indie guilt threads.

― polyphonic (polyphonic), Tuesday, 4 July 2006 16:21 (seventeen years ago) link

Not indie guilt, man. Just guilt guilt ... :-)

― O'Connor (OConnorScribe), Tuesday, 4 July 2006 18:59 (seventeen years ago) link

http://www.artistdirect.com/Images/Sources/AMGCOVERS/music/cover200/dre100/e154/e154381ded3.jpg

― CDDB (Dan Deluca), Tuesday, 4 July 2006 20:54 (seventeen years ago) link

"Steely Dan, Gaucho"

"gaucho" as a 'lost classic' or 'critically underappreciated' is the biggest strawman going today. i mean, i grew up with it and always loved it; the past four years have seen repeated claims of 'it's so good! why doesn't anyone agree?' it's like paul simon's 'hearts and bones'; when everyone's reputed their hatred, it's not underrated anymore!

it seems as if people that hate 'gaucho' just hate steely dan, period, and latch on to it as a cipher for their entire ouevre.

― derrick (derrick), Wednesday, 5 July 2006 01:17 (seventeen years ago) link

Like Flies on Sherbert

I can't really understand why this can be considered a bad album

― Marco Damiani (Marco D.), Wednesday, 5 July 2006 07:43 (seventeen years ago) link

Yeah Gaucho has its own thread of consensual praise.

― Baaderonixx immer wieder (baaderonixx), Wednesday, 5 July 2006 14:14 (seventeen years ago) link

Stone Roses - Second Coming.
http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drf600/f655/f65553hxdrb.jpg

― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy (Kerr), Wednesday, 5 July 2006 14:16 (seventeen years ago) link

Electric Six - Fire
Adam Green - Gemstones
Scritti Politti - Provision

― hank (hank s), Wednesday, 5 July 2006 14:27 (seventeen years ago) link

Catherine Wheel - Wishville

― Michael F Gill (Michael F Gill), Wednesday, 5 July 2006 15:28 (seventeen years ago) link

Seconding Soto's endorsement of Empire Burlesque, also:

Bowie's Tonight
Toto IV

I will defend these two via fistfight, if necessary.

― Thomas Inskeep (submeat), Wednesday, 5 July 2006 15:37 (seventeen years ago) link

I am really enjoying the new Frank Black Album Fastman Raiderman, and it is getting slagged pretty good by the critics.

― Jim Reckling (Jim Reckling), Wednesday, 5 July 2006 23:07 (seventeen years ago) link

Thompson Twins: "Quick Step And Sidekick".

One of all time top 50 favourite albums, and yet I have still yet to see a positive review, either from back then or a retrospective one.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Thursday, 6 July 2006 00:17 (seventeen years ago) link

Dave Matthews Band - Under the Table and Dreaming
Fatboy Slim - Palookaville

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Thursday, 6 July 2006 00:34 (seventeen years ago) link

Yes "Talk"

Now I'll ritually kill myself to restore the honor of the forum.

― James Slone (Freon Trotsky), Thursday, 6 July 2006 00:59 (seventeen years ago) link

"Second Coming" by the Stone Roses definitely.

Pavement's "Terror Twilight", although I'm not sure if the critics hated it as much as the fans did.

― J-rock (Julien Sandiford), Thursday, 6 July 2006 01:18 (seventeen years ago) link

I like Second Coming a lot more than I like the first Stone Roses album.

― js (honestengine), Thursday, 6 July 2006 01:27 (seventeen years ago) link

End of The Century.

― mike a (mike a), Thursday, 6 July 2006 20:18 (seventeen years ago) link

Bowie's Tonight
Toto IV

I like both of those, but I don't know whether a multi-Grammy-winning album such as "IV" could count as "critically reviled". Sure, you don't need to be a critics favourite to dominate the Grammys, but the albums that do still usually aren't universally hated by critics. In the case of Toto, most of their output will also receive a fair share of praise in the kind of magazines that appeal to musicians rather than fans.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Thursday, 6 July 2006 21:49 (seventeen years ago) link

I'm just thinking in terms of rockcrits, Geir, and in that sphere, it's definitely reviled. (Xgau to thread!)

― Thomas Inskeep (submeat), Thursday, 6 July 2006 21:55 (seventeen years ago) link

Is REM's Monster critically reviled? Aphex Twin's Drukqs? If so, those. Otherwise the only ones I can think of with no major critical backers are Journey's Escape and Departure and Styx's Pieces of Eight. Even Jane's Addiction gets props from Jim deRogatis. I'm not sure if Metal Machine Music counts for anything. Ooh, also I like some schlock-classical that gets sneered at by the academy like Pachelbel's Canon. I know at least a couple snobs sneer at Rodrigo's "Concierto di Aranjuez" but I'm not sure what its general critical standing is. Barely any new music gets really reviled these days, does it?

― Sundar (sundar), Thursday, 6 July 2006 22:13 (seventeen years ago) link

haha I just noticed that I posted almost the exact same post two years ago.

― Sundar (sundar), Thursday, 6 July 2006 22:14 (seventeen years ago) link

For a list of critics list containing "Escape", look at: http://www.acclaimedmusic.net/A538.htm

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Thursday, 6 July 2006 22:25 (seventeen years ago) link

one year passes...

awwww juliana's pony suffered universal panning according to metacritic?

i'll jump in and campaign for that one then

― Charlie Howard, Monday, 30 July 2007 16:59 (sixteen years ago) link

STP - Tiny Music

― billstevejim, Monday, 30 July 2007 17:03 (sixteen years ago) link

Sabbath-Never Say Die

I've always loved this one. Most people seem to hate it, even the members of the band. I think it's great.

― Bill Magill, Monday, 30 July 2007 17:28 (sixteen years ago) link

i like the first half of never say die very much,and i'm convinced the title song is one of the great lost power-pop singles. you'll find others on this board who like that one too, as of course you would with any album you can name.

― fact checking cuz, Monday, 30 July 2007 19:20 (sixteen years ago) link

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