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(London Times) Obvious Why music critics love albums that the public hates and vice-versa. With a list of 40 albums proving the point beyond all doubt   (entertainment.timesonline.co.uk) divider line 72
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sigdiamond2000 [TotalFark] 2008-03-12 06:40:30 PM  
CRITICS' FAVOURITES THAT THE PUBLIC HATES

1 Captain Beefheart, Trout Mask Replica


No argument here. Unlistenable, retarded bullshiat. Not even interesting for it's humor value or uniqueness. Deserves to be number one. Strictly for record store hipsters who don't even like music. So, yes.

11 Guided by Voices, Bee Thousand

I have yet to play this album or burn a copy for someone who didn't end up thinking it was one of the greatest rock albums they've ever heard in their life. So, no.

/Not submitter

 
40below [TotalFark] 2008-03-12 06:52:47 PM  
What the hell was wrong with Breakfast In America? It was no Quietest Moments or Indelibly Stamped, but it was a solid album.

 
Solid State Vittles 2008-03-12 07:01:43 PM  
sigdiamond2000: 11 Guided by Voices, Bee Thousand

I have yet to play this album or burn a copy for someone who didn't end up thinking it was one of the greatest rock albums they've ever heard in their life. So, no.

/Not submitter


Amen to that.

Not sure why Love's Forever Changes is on the list either. Plenty accessible. Who doesn't like "Alone Again Or"? Same goes for Big Star. They used a freakin' Big Star song for the "That 70's Show" theme song for fark's sakes. Not sure they'd do that if Big Star were "hated" by the public. Not knowing about a band and hating them are obviously not the same.

I love that Slint album, but it's not for everybody.

 
Kyosuke [TotalFark] 2008-03-12 07:08:59 PM  
40below: What the hell was wrong with Breakfast In America?

It was popular. You can't be part of the elite artistic set why at the same time admitting that something the common folk like is actually good.

Damn good album, IMHO.

 
spleef420 2008-03-12 07:12:16 PM  
Music critics are just musicians with no talent...you know, drummers.

 
sigdiamond2000 [TotalFark] 2008-03-12 07:17:30 PM  
Solid State Vittles: Not sure why Love's Forever Changes is on the list either. Plenty accessible. Who doesn't like "Alone Again Or"? Same goes for Big Star.

I don't get it either. Those are both pretty much straight up pop/rock albums.

 
bingo the psych-o 2008-03-12 07:21:14 PM  
spleef420: Music critics are just musicians with no talent...you know, drummers.

Hey! I play drums and... ...uhhh... ...well ok, yeah.

 
eabod 2008-03-12 07:25:03 PM  
Man... "Tomorrow Never Knows" is an amazing track... not because of the songwriting at all... but because it sounds about 40 years ahead of its time. Reminds me of the first time I heard Can in the late 90's ... and I thought they were a new indie band like Clinic or something.

Also, no Velvet Underground? C'mon... they're hated, right?

 
Harvey Manfrenjensenjen 2008-03-12 07:25:07 PM  
I'm a Genesis fan and even I hate "We Can't Dance".

 
suicide 2008-03-12 07:30:40 PM  
sigdiamond2000
Solid State Vittles


i think in this case saying the public "hated it" refers to album sales. which is kinda dumb, but whatever.

 
radioberlin 2008-03-12 07:34:02 PM  
I've only met one person who claimed to like Metal Machine Music and most of the people around us laughed and the rest waited to have the joke explained to them.

 
Dear_Leader 2008-03-12 07:36:31 PM  
I love Astral Weeks :-)

 
viccellini 2008-03-12 07:38:32 PM  
Critics seem to love newer Radiohead, but I don't dig it. I like their older, more catchy, melodic music.

 
Solid State Vittles 2008-03-12 07:43:13 PM  
suicide: i think in this case saying the public "hated it" refers to album sales. which is kinda dumb, but whatever.

Yeah, kinda silly.

 
RevLovejoy 2008-03-12 07:45:05 PM  
Critics liked Metal Machine Music? I felt they understood why Lou did it, but I've never thought anyone actually liked it.

 
Flab [TotalFark] 2008-03-12 07:45:56 PM  
eabod: Also, no Velvet Underground?

Lou Reed's there.

 
New Age Redneck 2008-03-12 07:46:44 PM  
"Rock journalism is people who can't write interviewing people who can't talk for people who can't read"

Frank Zappa

/nuff said, I'll make up my own mind, thanks

 
Solid State Vittles 2008-03-12 07:48:02 PM  
RevLovejoy: Critics liked Metal Machine Music? I felt they understood why Lou did it, but I've never thought anyone actually liked it.

That was my understanding too. That one more than any of the rest screams pretentiousness.

 
Mappy 2008-03-12 07:50:14 PM  
sigdiamond2000: CRITICS' FAVOURITES THAT THE PUBLIC HATES

1 Captain Beefheart, Trout Mask Replica

No argument here. Unlistenable, retarded bullshiat. Not even interesting for it's humor value or uniqueness. Deserves to be number one. Strictly for record store hipsters who don't even like music. So, yes.

11 Guided by Voices, Bee Thousand

I have yet to play this album or burn a copy for someone who didn't end up thinking it was one of the greatest rock albums they've ever heard in their life. So, no.

/Not submitter


I came to say both of those things. Except I have found a few people who couldn't get past the lo-fi quality of Bee Thousand. However, those same people really enjoyed Isolation Drills. Pollard can pen a good tune.

 
LonleyCloud 2008-03-12 07:50:56 PM  
Trout Mask Replica and Forever Changes are just kind of meh. I have dutifully listened to both because critics are sometimes correct, and, whilst I don't think they are bad albums (TMR takes a bit of getting used to) they do not deserve the accolades with they are regularly afforded. They're just OK.

Yeah, you have to listen with an open mind; but sometimes I think critics minds are so open their brains fall out.

/Ticket to Ride and Walrus FTW
//John v Paul thread anyone??

 
awfulperson [TotalFark] 2008-03-12 07:52:52 PM  
viccellini: Critics seem to love newer Radiohead, but I don't dig it. I like their older, more catchy, melodic music.

Kind of amazed Kid A isn't on the list--critically acclaimed, but not the best-loved of their work by the general public (I love it, though).

I think, too, some of these records aren't necessarily hated by the public, they'll just never hear it played on the radio; Palace Music? No commercial radio station is ever going to play Will Oldham. Talented, yes, but his voice sounds like a squeaky screen door.

 
SmashLimousines [recently expired TotalFark] 2008-03-12 07:57:50 PM  
Captain Beefheart's Doc at the Radar Station is a great album; I don't care what anybody says.

 
DrBenway [TotalFark] 2008-03-12 08:06:01 PM  
For the most part, it looks more like a list of records that went under most people's radar, rather than being hated. Those are two very different categories.


sigdiamond2000:

CRITICS' FAVOURITES THAT THE PUBLIC HATES

1 Captain Beefheart, Trout Mask Replica

No argument here. Unlistenable, retarded bullshiat. Not even interesting for it's humor value or uniqueness. Deserves to be number one. Strictly for record store hipsters who don't even like music. So, yes.


So, no. You are mistaken in your appraisal. "I don't get it" is not a reliable signpost for the conclusion you've reached.

 
WhyteRaven74 [TotalFark] 2008-03-12 08:14:44 PM  
Ummm what critics were they looking at? Lots of critics loved Hotel California, Breakfast in America, Vs and a couple of the others. As for the ones the public doesn't like, a bunch of those are way old and weren't even well promoted when they came out. Even still, they still had good solid core audiences, plenty of people liked and still like The Flying Burrito Brothers, The Fall, Nick Cave, Aimee Mann etc.

 
sickb0y 2008-03-12 08:17:48 PM  
50,000 Fall fans can't be wrong.

 
the voices in your head 2008-03-12 08:30:29 PM  
sickb0y: 50,000 Fall fans can't be wrong.

If Hitler has proved anything, it's that public support doesn't necessarily mean something is good.

Did I say Hitler? I meant Hinder. Whoopsies

 
oldandwiser 2008-03-12 08:32:49 PM  
Van Morrison, Astral Weeks....A great album
Love, Forever Changes... I have played this album/CD more than any other album I own. I bought it the day it was released in Dec 1967. To the casual listener,play it a few times and it will grow on you.

 
Valdes 2008-03-12 08:45:49 PM  
Of the ones on these lists, I have heard the following:

1 Captain Beefheart, Trout Mask Replica CRAP
11 Guided by Voices, Bee Thousand Boring
17 Van Morrison, Astral Weeks Amazing, though Tulepo Honey is better
19 Big Star, Radio City A++++++++++

2 Eagles, Hotel California No More
3 Norah Jones, Come Away with Me Yawn
5 Céline Dion, Falling into You Please God, kill me
6 Mariah Carey, Music Box Please God, kill me
7 Shania Twain, Come on Over Please God, kill me
8 Bon Jovi, Slippery When Wet Please God, kill Bon Jovi
9 Billy Joel, Greatest Hits God, why did Billy Joel start out like this, and descend into crap?
10 Cher, Believe Gay people love Cher
11 Dido, No Angel =Good
12 Lionel Richie, Can't Slow Down Lionel killed the Commodores
13 Ricky Martin, Ricky Martin Gay people love Ricky
14 Cranberries, No Need to Argue Shrug
15 Genesis, We Can't Dance The 80s. I forgive them.
16 Pearl Jam, Vs A-
17 Supertramp, Breakfast in America B+

 
flavor of the month 2008-03-12 08:53:01 PM  
i like Brendan Benson's album. there's a track off Alternative to Love in a commercial right now, one of those fancy shmancy gizmo commercials.

 
skeeterjennings 2008-03-12 08:53:54 PM  
I used to be able to name a handful of well-rounded "my favorite Beetle's songs".
Then I spent several years as program director of an "oldies" station.
Now I just...hate them

 
galleech 2008-03-12 08:55:58 PM  
Ha I liked the #1 albums on both lists, but hated almost everything else (I liked Breakfast in America).

 
deevo 2008-03-12 08:59:37 PM  
PUBLIC FAVOURITES THAT THE CRITICS HATE
3 Norah Jones, Come Away with Me


how did that piece of shiat win so many Grammys, then? I always assumed that critics actually liked that crap based on that.

9 Billy Joel, Greatest Hits /i>

Greatest Hits is not an album, there is nothing more to be said, whoever wrote this was talking out of their ass the whole time.

16 Pearl Jam, Vs

I know that critics like pretending that grunge never happened lately, but even Pierro Scaruffi ranks Vs as the best grunge album ever and one of the best of the 1990s.

 
chickyraptor 2008-03-12 09:27:02 PM  

I have 2 of the 40:

CRITICS' FAVOURITES THAT THE PUBLIC HATES

1 Captain Beefheart, Trout Mask Replica

I like parts of Trout Mask Replica, but his best IMO were Safe As Milk and (Shiny Beast)Bat Chain Puller. Get the Dust Blows Forward compilation and you have all the Beefheart you need.

PUBLIC FAVOURITES THAT THE CRITICS HATE
20 Jeff Wayne, War of the Worlds

The best thing about this album is the artwork from the LP.
The Justin Hayward songs are good, the rest is mediocre.

 
tallguywithglasseson [TotalFark] 2008-03-12 10:00:15 PM  
Hey wait a damn minute there.

Some of us love Guided by Voices AND Billy Joel.

 
El Freak [TotalFark] 2008-03-12 10:12:31 PM  
skeeterjennings: I used to be able to name a handful of well-rounded "my favorite Beetle's songs".
Then I spent several years as program director of an "oldies" station.
Now I just...hate them


Why is it everybody who claims to hate the Beatles goes out of their way to misspell their name? Is it your way of saying "I care NOT for your musical and pop culture icons, so I will not even bother to spell their name correctly. Your sacred cows, they have been slaughtered!", or something similar?

I'll let the grammar Nazis handle the misplaced apostrophe.

/pet peeve
//also, it's JIMI Hendrix, not JIMMY

 
Nemo's Brother 2008-03-12 10:14:12 PM  
No mention of OD?

www.myspace.com/orificedeath

 
Entity79 [TotalFark] 2008-03-12 10:17:46 PM  
Harvey Manfrenjensenjen: I'm a Genesis fan and even I hate "We Can't Dance".


Same here, except Fading Lights and Driving The Last Spike. Good songs, but the rest of the album sucks.

 
delathi 2008-03-12 10:33:59 PM  
chickyraptor:

PUBLIC FAVOURITES THAT THE CRITICS HATE
20 Jeff Wayne, War of the Worlds
The best thing about this album is the artwork from the LP.
The Justin Hayward songs are good, the rest is mediocre.


Thunderchild was pretty good.
And The Spirit of Man.

/oooooh laaaaa!

 
paulseta [TotalFark] 2008-03-12 10:51:49 PM  
War of the Worlds is pretty amazing. It's a product of its time, and has some of the most interesting sounds I've ever heard on a "mainstream" album.

The first half of Breakfast In America isn't as good as the first. It's a good album, but no Crime of the Century.

We Can't Dance doesn't exist. It was never made. Genesis stopped making albums after Invisible Touch :-)

 
monsieurstabby [TotalFark] 2008-03-12 10:58:26 PM  
I'm no music journalist, but Tomorrow Never Knows actually is my favorite Beatles song.

 
monsieurstabby [TotalFark] 2008-03-12 11:20:06 PM  
On the list of songs the public loves should be Flyleaf - Flyleaf. That album sucks AIDS infested, camel farking, fugly biatch with a face like a smashed crab cock.

 
beergut666 2008-03-12 11:39:18 PM  
I own #1,3,4, and 15 on the critic's choice list and love them. I do not own any of the albums on the other list.

 
mfaby 2008-03-12 11:51:28 PM  
Valdes 2008-03-12 08:45:49 PM
Of the ones on these lists, I have heard the following:....
17 Van Morrison, Astral Weeks Amazing, though Tulepo Honey is better



You dont have a FARKING IDEA what youre talking about;
'Astral Weeks was SO FAR AHEAD of its' time that I think the
music field has only recently caught up to it.

 
RobThomas PowerHour 2008-03-12 11:53:03 PM  
Van Morrison's Astral Weeks is fantastic, but everyone know that Veedon Fleece is a better album (gives a smug look to all)

Where is My Bloody Valentine's Loveless or David Bowie's Low? Two of the greatest albums ever (Low was pitchforkmedia's #1 album of the 1970s) and people stayed the hell away from them.

(puts chin high in air, struts out of room)

 
DrBenway [TotalFark] 2008-03-13 12:41:27 AM  
RobThomas PowerHour:

Where is My Bloody Valentine's Loveless or David Bowie's Low? Two of the greatest albums ever (Low was pitchforkmedia's #1 album of the 1970s) and people stayed the hell away from them.


When Low first came out, Rolling Stone referred to it as "Another Green Ziggy."

 
dmax 2008-03-13 01:29:05 AM  
A dozen years ago, a good friend who's also a music omnivore attacked me: "What's the best Beatles song?" with a look that I couldn't possibly get it right.

Penny Lane.

He shrugs. "You're right."

/still loves me some TNK

 
MikoSquiz 2008-03-13 02:35:39 AM  
deevo: 3 Norah Jones, Come Away with Me

how did that piece of shiat win so many Grammys, then? I always assumed that critics actually liked that crap based on that.


That's backwards. Critics' favourites never win Grammies. Strictly sales figures based.

 
seabass242 2008-03-13 03:48:11 AM  
Trout Mask Replica is good. Not great, but there is some good stuff on it.

I am glad Kid A is not on the list. It is my favorite Radiohead album, but some people seem to really dislike it. I like all Radiohead albums though ( Pablo Honey being the weakest )

 
masturbating_kitten 2008-03-13 03:57:40 AM  
Come on, if you wrap your head around it Trout Mask Replica has some good songwriting. It's not Beefheart's best, but every album he made is worth listening to. (Just finished listening to Safe As Milk - I really really dig the bass guitar sound on that album, among other things.)

One artist that did earn his Grammys was Stevie Wonder, but I agree that most of the nominees are mainstream pap.

Big ups to eabod for the CAN reference. Excellent band that no one has heard of, and that's a damn shame. First album you should buy by them is their first one, Monster Movie if you like a more aggressive sound (garage rocky), or Future Days if you prefer a calmer, lapping-waves sort.

 
JohnnyDreamboat 2008-03-13 04:05:39 AM  
I am so unhip that I don't own any of the albums one either list. I think I had "Breakfast in America" on vinyl, but preferred "Crime of the Century". The piano outro on the title track is epic.
TMR is the soundtrack to a very confused person's life.
SLAYER's "Reign in Blood" should battle for first with Steely Dan's "Aja", in my world.

 
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