Music: Please post your 10 most overrated albums

[izlez]

Sunbather x10

Boooo



(I mean, I guess I actually agree that it is overrated, but I like it a lot)

 

[MXD]

The two biggest offenders amongst albums I should really like...

- Ok Computer (Radiohead) (I don't understand how it's considered in the Top-10 albums of all-time territory)
- Doolittle (The Pixies) (I'm not sure I'm preferring it to Trompe Le Monde, let alone all the other pre-reunion Pixies albums)

 

[Trap Jesus]

The two biggest offenders amongst albums I should really like...

- Ok Computer (Radiohead) (I don't understand how it's considered in the Top-10 albums of all-time territory)
- Doolittle (The Pixies) (I'm not sure I'm preferring it to Trompe Le Monde, let alone all the other pre-reunion Pixies albums)

Wow, this may be one of the last albums I ever expected to see here. Pixies were obviously popular but never really had that true mass appeal, they got buried a little bit by other grunge bands at the time. I guess you're looking at it more in the context of their other work though. I think Trompe le Monde and Bossanova get underrated, but I do think Doolittle and Surfer Rosa are the standouts. Either way, such a consistent band IMO (at least in terms of their pre-reunion stuff).

 

[MXD]

Wow, this may be one of the last albums I ever expected to see here. Pixies were obviously popular but never really had that true mass appeal, they got buried a little bit by other grunge bands at the time. I guess you're looking at it more in the context of their other work though. I think Trompe le Monde and Bossanova get underrated, but I do think Doolittle and Surfer Rosa are the standouts. Either way, such a consistent band IMO (at least in terms of their pre-reunion stuff).

It was more about critics reception (and appreciation, including a posteriori appreciation) than mainstream/mass appeal per se. And also in the context of their other work, I suppose. I do think Bossanova is their real masterpiece.

It's telling that Trompe le Monde is widely (and nearly unanimously) considered as their worse pre-reunion album, because... It's a very good album. As is Doolittle to be honest. But I don't see the masterpiece that everyone seems to see here, despite some extremely solid tracks.

 

[x Tame Impala]

So


And i suppose you like every single “critically acclaimed album”?

Of course not. However, I didn’t create a thread to talk about the popular things I don’t like for seemingly no reason or context. It’s ok to not like critically acclaimed things, but I’m never liked the HF prevalence towards talking about “unpopular opinions”. Not sure if it still exists but I’ve had the “Unpopular Movie Opinions” thread on ignore for well over a year now. It’s just not an interesting discussion to me.

However, when something is talked about in context of a specific movie thread then it’s usually fine and sometimes even interesting. In the “Tenet” thread for example, @Violenza Domestica brought up specific reasons for not liking Nolan films. I completely disagree with him, but it was something I’ve never heard before and was a worthwhile convo.

Reading endless posts saying “The Godfather was boring” or “Stone Roses wasn’t that great of an album” with no context and saying it just to say it doesn’t do anything for me so I usually stay out of those discussions.

 

[sr edler]

I like The Bends and OK Computer. The stuff after was overrated.

The Bends I like, OK Computer is okay too. What I don't personally get though is Jonny Greenwood's film music, as someone who likes film music in general. But to each their own when it comes to music. I have no idea how JG's film music is rated by the general public. And I don't care what other people like. If you like Smurfhits, all the power to you. I don't have to listen to it anyways unless you're my next door neighbor with a penchant for throwing very loud parties.

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

Of course not. However, I didn’t create a thread to talk about the popular things I don’t like for seemingly no reason or context. It’s ok to not like critically acclaimed things, but I’m never liked the HF prevalence towards talking about “unpopular opinions”. Not sure if it still exists but I’ve had the “Unpopular Movie Opinions” thread on ignore for well over a year now. It’s just not an interesting discussion to me.

However, when something is talked about in context of a specific movie thread then it’s usually fine and sometimes even interesting. In the “Tenet” thread for example, @Violenza Domestica brought up specific reasons for not liking Nolan films. I completely disagree with him, but it was something I’ve never heard before and was a worthwhile convo.

Reading endless posts saying “The Godfather was boring” or “Stone Roses wasn’t that great of an album” with no context and saying it just to say it doesn’t do anything for me so I usually stay out of those discussions.

Hey don't drag me into this!

And you got me wrong! I do like Nolan a lot!! I just don't think he's ever done a film that has enough depth or is complex enough to grant him a place in a discussion among real great directors.

As for the thread, this one has already more interesting posts than 80% of what's around, no matter the original intention. At least nobody is insulting anybody over a camera that might have been in or out of play!

 

[Say Hey Kid]

... As for the thread, this one has already more interesting posts than 80% of what's around, ...

Agreed. I've been planning this topic for several years. If it's okay for some critics to say 'The Queen is dead' is the goat and the other albums in the simplified OP are top 20 all time, why isn't it okay to express a different opinion? Isn't that the whole purpose of message boards?

 

[Roo Returns]

It was more about critics reception (and appreciation, including a posteriori appreciation) than mainstream/mass appeal per se. And also in the context of their other work, I suppose. I do think Bossanova is their real masterpiece.

It's telling that Trompe le Monde is widely (and nearly unanimously) considered as their worse pre-reunion album, because... It's a very good album. As is Doolittle to be honest. But I don't see the masterpiece that everyone seems to see here, despite some extremely solid tracks.

Here's the thing with The Pixies and also Jane's Addiction: they both paved the way for Nirvana. That's not my opinion, its's fact Kurt Cobain loved The Pixies. And Jane's Addiction helped launch Lollapalooza Perry's festival about 3.5/4 months before Nevermind changed the world.

The reason both of them aren't bigger is because they broke up at their peak and were replaced in the "Alternative" landscape by the Seattle bands, Chili Peppers, STP, Smashing Pumpkins, Green Day, etc. Frank Blank remained active during the 90s peak, The Breeders had a huge record and a few of the most memorable songs of the decade, and the guys in Jane's other than Eric Avery (by choice) all had successful bands and projects in the 90s.

Alternative music was always there it just went from being able to fill small indoor venues to NHL/NBA arenas. Even with Radiohead and the "Brit craze" of the mid 90s. The Cure and Love and Rockets were extremely popular from like 1986-1990. You could argue it peaked in 1989. Around that time was the whole Madchester scene and XTC were putting out very commercial but wonderful records.

 

[MXD]

Here's the thing with The Pixies and also Jane's Addiction: they both paved the way for Nirvana. That's not my opinion, its's fact Kurt Cobain loved The Pixies. And Jane's Addiction helped launch Lollapalooza Perry's festival about 3.5/4 months before Nevermind changed the world.

Oh, don't worry... I was aware of all of that, and it's probably not totally fortuitous that Nirvana hired Surfer Rosa's sound engineer/producer for In Utero.

 

[Shareefruck]

I could not disagree more with x Tame Impala's perspective.

That unpopular opinions thread he referred to was arguably one of the more fun, engaging, informative, and cathartic threads I've come across on these boards, personally-- I hope it comes back. Arguing our differences, bouncing them off of contrasting perspectives, finding solidarity with others, getting to know the attitudes of other posters, and allowing compelling views to rub off on you and be impressionable is pretty easily what I find most interesting and worthwhile to dig into and talk about in this place. In fact, I kind of view it as the point of forums to begin with and why I see value in this pastime.

On the contrary, I would probably sooner raise an eyebrow at a lot of the other things that I tend to come across here. For example, speculating/making predictions about what's going to happen next on TV shows as episodes air, conducting consensus polls to figure out what HF's favorite things are as a whole, hyping each other up about something they're looking forward to that's about to be released, discussing the latest news and results about the impact that these things are having culturally/critically (for example, what's breaking records at the Box Office or getting awards), and engaging in endless knowledge exercises/time-waster games where all you do is list as many examples as you can of things that fall under a certain category. All of these things have significantly less appeal and value to me, personally. Sometimes I can get caught up in them as well, but they're not things that I actively set out to do here and feel good about spending time on, personally.

---

Agreed on Doolittle. I generally like the style and sensibilities of Pixies, and I used to really love them, but whenever I go back to them now, it always feels like something's missing. I definitely have Surfer Rosa ahead of it, and even then I feel somewhat similarly. Sonic Youth is kind of like that for me too.

 

[Eisen]

The two biggest offenders amongst albums I should really like...

- Ok Computer (Radiohead) (I don't understand how it's considered in the Top-10 albums of all-time territory)
- Doolittle (The Pixies) (I'm not sure I'm preferring it to Trompe Le Monde, let alone all the other pre-reunion Pixies albums)

You make it sound like Trompe le Monde is not that good.

 

[MXD]

You make it sound like Trompe le Monde is not that good.

I'm seeing it this way :

Bossanova : 10
Surfer: 9.5
Doolittle : 8.5
Trompe Le Monde : Probably 8.5

 

[Eisen]

I'm seeing it this way :

Bossanova : 10
Surfer: 9.5
Doolittle : 8.5
Trompe Le Monde : Probably 8.5

Ok, I can live with that despite Trompe le Monde being my favourite pixies song.

 

[MXD]

Agreed on Doolittle. I generally like the style and sensibilities of Pixies, and I used to really love them, but whenever I go back to them now, it always feels like something's missing. I definitely have Surfer Rosa ahead of it, and even then I feel somewhat similarly. Sonic Youth is kind of like that for me too.

See... To me, it's a same-but-different kind of thing with Sonic Youth. The late-80ies trilogy is excellent, but I fail to see the influence.

I get that we're talking about that period from EVOL to Daydream Nation (let's keep Goo and Dirty out of this - Goo is probably influential, in that it was DGC's first big signing AFAIK, but isn't seen as influential or as accomplished as the other three albums that preceded it, and Dirty is Sonic Youth trying that grunge thing, and it's actually pretty good, despite being clearly the worse of these five albums as far as I'm concerned).

Daydream Nation, while an excellent album in its own right, sounds a bit tame/polished (compared to earlier works at least, but with the VERY notable exception of one track), all the while being... well, sprawling. It's a long album with some very long tracks. "Tame sound" and "long tracks"... don't quite jive with "grunge" or "alt-rock".

Sister is a bit of a bipolar album, going either full-blown psychedelia or, well, punk. Songs-wise, it's great, but it's also a bit of a mess to go through.

EVOL is actually my favorite of the trilogy and it sounds goth AF (as did the prior album, who wasn't good at all but had one GREAT track).