Tip jar

If you like CaB and wish to support it, you can use PayPal or KoFi. Thank you, and I hope you continue to enjoy the site - Neil.

Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com

Support CaB

Recent

Welcome to Cook'd and Bomb'd. Please login or sign up.

March 28, 2024, 05:44:54 PM

Login with username, password and session length

"Great" albums you really hate

Started by hummingofevil, June 18, 2015, 11:56:51 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

hummingofevil

In keeping with the recent trend of contrary thread titles.

For me it's the following:

- Parklife. As a teenager in the 90s who loved "indie" I fekt guilty for hating this record but whilst I've still got very little time for a band that is at least 50% Cunt I find this record neck crinklingly unbearable. I actually really liked The Great Escape on the whole which came as some surprise to me but eeerrrgggghhh no thanks.

- Different Class. It's impossible to hate Pulp but put me in the category of loving His and Hers and 'Hardcore'. It would be easy to claim in hindsight that it was an issue of overexposure but I hated it at the time and still do.

-What's The Story (Morning Glory). As above but even as a 16 year old fan boy that title was enough to see through them immediately and without exception. A horrible record made even more disappointing by the fact that the transition single (e.p.?) Whatever was their creative peak.

As for more recent stuff...

syro. aphex. Sub windowlicker outtakes that I have zero interest in listening to. Compared to the magnificence of the Analord stuff it's just a complete waste of my time.

There are plenty more but I'll let youse go first.

Stoneage Dinosaurs

Kanye West - whatever the one he did is that's supposed to be the good one

Absorb the anus burn

A Night At The Opera.
A Day At The Races.
Bat Out Of Hell.

DukeDeMondo

Quote from: Angrew Lloyg Wegger on June 19, 2015, 12:27:48 AM
Kanye West - whatever the one he did is that's supposed to be the good one

An easier thing to find would be the one that's supposed to be the shit one. That one is Graduation. The rest are marvelous, you.

Anyway, for me, any Pink Floyd record that isn't Piper at the Gates of Dawn. I'm fully aware that this is because I have an irrational hatred of Pink Floyd, even though I've heard relatively little. Still. I hear bits of Dark Side of the Moon and I can tell that it's interesting and something I'd probably like if someone else had put it together, but I can't do nothin about it, I fuckin hate them. For no good reason whatsoever.

Piper... though, that's something else. I could listen to that all day.

See also Blur. Any Blur record.

mr grole

Quote from: hummingofevil on June 18, 2015, 11:56:51 PM
-What's The Story (Morning Glory). As above but even as a 16 year old fan boy that title was enough to see through them immediately and without exception. A horrible record made even more disappointing by the fact that the transition single (e.p.?) Whatever was their creative peak.

I always hated Oasis. Pretty much everyone else at my school seemed to love them. I regarded them as a band beloved by scally pricks. Can't say I've changed my opinion all that much.

I've never thought much of Sgt. Pepper's. I'd rather listen to Revolver, Rubber Soul or Help.

wosl

Hats by The Blue Nile.  So many raved about this that eventually I felt I ought to get a copy.  Plodding, turgid soundtrack-for-a-film-in-your-head music and overbearing, histrionic vocals.  Quite, quite dreadful.

DukeDeMondo

Quote from: wosl on June 19, 2015, 01:11:04 AM
Hats by The Blue Nile.  So many raved about this that eventually I felt I ought to get a copy.  Plodding, turgid soundtrack-for-a-film-in-your-head music and overbearing, histrionic vocals.  Quite, quite dreadful.

I don't much like Hats either, but A Walk Across The Rooftops is fuckin amazing.

Here's the title track. Bass could take the ankles off you. Gorgeous. https://youtu.be/lg0rpACtc3M

wosl

I have to say that does nothing for me, either. I have major problems with the guy's singing-style.  I really don't like world-weary, over-emotive types on the whole (although I do like Morten Harket's vocals, for example, so this isn't completely hard-and-fast).  Just sing the song, man.  I'm with Robert Bresson, re. emotion in art.

DukeDeMondo

Quote from: wosl on June 19, 2015, 01:47:03 AM
I have to say that does nothing for me, either. I have major problems with the guy's singing-style.  I really don't like world-weary, over-emotive types on the whole (although I do like Morten Harket's vocals, for example, so this isn't completely hard-and-fast).  Just sing the song, man.  I'm with Robert Bresson, re. emotion in art.

Well I'm siding with Dreyer. Heh. Anyway, if that doesn't work for you, strike them off, nothing else is any better. Move on, wosl.

Mijkediablo

Quote from: DukeDeMondo on June 19, 2015, 12:48:26 AM
Anyway, for me, any Pink Floyd record that isn't Piper at the Gates of Dawn. I'm fully aware that this is because I have an irrational hatred of Pink Floyd, even though I've heard relatively little. Still. I hear bits of Dark Side of the Moon and I can tell that it's interesting and something I'd probably like if someone else had put it together, but I can't do nothin about it, I fuckin hate them. For no good reason whatsoever.

I'd completely agree with you Duke, if it weren't for the first side of Atom Heart Mother. I heard it played in a hippy shop in a barn years ago, and was gutted when the fox behind the counter told me it was Floyd- I felt (and still feel) the same way about them as you. I immediately got the album on CD, and 'borrowed' (robbed) my mum's vinyl copy not long after (she still hasn't noticed). The second side is just as drab and pointless as the Floyd of my imagination, disappointingly.

DukeDeMondo

Quote from: Mijkediablo on June 19, 2015, 01:58:25 AM
I'd completely agree with you Duke, if it weren't for the first side of Atom Heart Mother.

Oh for fuck sake, you. This is brilliant. Jesus Christ. This is breakin my heart.

RickyGerbail

It's weird that Blur is the most devisive band on this forum.

DukeDeMondo

Quote from: RickyGerbail on June 19, 2015, 03:31:22 AM
It's weird that Blur is the most devisive band on this forum.

Can't help it, I absolutely despise them. Is it rational? No. But despise them I do.

great_badir

On the Floyd note - The fucking Wall.

IT'S A SHIT ROGER WATERS SOLO ALBUM, PEOPLE!!!!

What's even more confusing to me is how down people have always been about Final Cut, when it just sounds like a bunch of songs leftover from The Wall.  Which is exactly what it is.

Yiesh.

mr grole

Actually, I forgot: the white album. 30 tracks maybe half a dozen good songs, the rest are either mediocre or outright shite.

Also, Abby Road. One or two  good songs, mostly mediocre/shite. 'Here comes the sun' is one of the good ones.

DrGreggles

OK Computer.
Never understood why it's considered Radiohead's masterpiece when The Bends is vastly superior.

Subtle Mocking

Nevermind. Maybe it made more sense in 1991? Or maybe it just sounds rather run-of-the-mill because it's been copied to death? Either way, never really liked that one.

Never really rated My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy either, at least not in the way that it's made out to be the best rap album of the decade so far. Kendrick Lamar has produced two stronger albums since.

(Personal opinion)

fit bird

When they finally released those two versions of Smile by the Beach Boys I thought they were both utter utter shit and it was fucking lucky they didn't release it way back.

And Bitches Brew was vastly inferior to all the other Electric Miles albums, especially Agartha and On the Corner.

KennyMonster

Quote from: RickyGerbail on June 19, 2015, 03:31:22 AM
It's weird that Blur is the most devisive band on this forum.

Blur have made some OK poppy singles in their time but I always found their albums such a chore to listen to, too much boring faff separating out the good songs and the albums were always too long.

Oasis have never made a decent song, an extremely overrated and boring band.

Kane Jones

#19
Quote from: Subtle Mocking on June 19, 2015, 09:40:06 AM
Nevermind. Maybe it made more sense in 1991?

I would say this has a lot to do with it.  Hair metal pretty much ruled the rock airwaves in the late eighties and early nineties, and Nevermind (well, pretty much Smells Like Teen Spirit on its own, to be fair) just blew all of it out of the water.  I thought it was a shame at the time, as I loved all that widdly guitar, glossily produced keyboard rock, but I knew there was something exciting about Nirvana when I first heard Teen Spirit.  It had balls and attitude and yet had a really strong hook and singalong chorus so wasn't actually too far removed from the hair metal stuff. It was just scruffier and snottier. I was 15 when Nevermind came out and it did sound pretty fresh and invigorating. Commercial rock had become stale and boring and they came along and gave it a much needed boot up the arse.

Pepotamo1985

Quote from: great_badir on June 19, 2015, 07:55:55 AM
On the Floyd note - The fucking Wall.

Yeah, it's dreadful. Although, I would say that the first disc would be a guilty pleasure album if it was put out by anyone else - say, Steve Miller, or something. It's shite, but it's highly listenable shite.

Quote from: great_badir on June 19, 2015, 07:55:55 AM
What's even more confusing to me is how down people have always been about Final Cut, when it just sounds like a bunch of songs leftover from The Wall.  Which is exactly what it is.

They're very different in style and tone, though. Tracks on The Wall tend to be shorter, slicker and bouncier (there are parts of The Wall that have definite disco influences), with a greater emphasis on Gilmour's guitar playing. The Final Cut is just sad poetry set to music. I know they came from the same place, but the end result is two albums that don't really sound like each other.

garbed_attic

Anything by Biffy Clyro.

Maybe not quite in the "classic" or "great" leagues but...

I've been assured by so many of my friends that they are utterly brilliant but they make me literally nauseous! I find their guitar sound unpleasant; lots of their songs don't seem to cohere (and I say this as a fan of Zappa, Mr. Bungle and lots of other splicy bands); their lyrics are either sub-sixth form poetry, pseudo-intellectual nonsense or mawkish indie-pop stuff; I don't like the lead singer's voice!

For a band with some really good album covers, they don't have produce music that I have no interest in listening to!

(it's all subjective though innit)

---

As for The Wall... I grew up with Pink Floyd's more commercial stuff (basically Dark Side and Wish You Were Here) and I'm still fond of both and utterly love'Shine on You Crazy Diamond' despite ubiquity. I then snaffled up a lot of their other albums as a teen, particularly enjoying Meddle and the last track of Obscured By Clouds. I thought Animals was a bit on-the-nose but I liked a lot of the keyboard and guitar sounds within it.

And the first time I listened to The Wall is was on a dark car journey and I was really taken with it. Then over the next couple of years whenever I'd listen to it again I found myself waiting through more and more tracks to get to 'Comfortable Numb' or basically any bits where Gilmour actually gets to do anything. And the more I thought about the narrative the more it didn't make sense and the more stupidly reductive and vaguely misogynist it felt. Then I realised that the album wasn't just bloated... it was actually pretty boring.

I certainly don't hate it, but my experience with it is very similar to my experience with American Beauty and Magnolia. There's some great surface level stuff, but in terms of deeper ideas, structural coherency or actual moments of beauty, it's all smoke and mirrors. Which isn't to say there isn't any craft, but that it massively over-reaches itself and a lot of it feels very very far from being essential.

By contrast, The Final Cut holds up fairly well... though I think that's mostly because I went into it with such low expectations. But at least it has some anger focused outwards rather than just being bloatedly self-pitying!

Neville Chamberlain

Quote from: gout_pony on June 19, 2015, 10:20:41 AM
Anything by Biffy Clyro.

Maybe not quite in the "classic" or "great" leagues but...

I've been assured by so many of my friends that they are utterly brilliant but they make me literally nauseous! I find their guitar sound unpleasant; lots of their songs don't seem to cohere (and I say this as a fan of Zappa, Mr. Bungle and lots of other splicy bands); their lyrics are either sub-sixth form poetry, pseudo-intellectual nonsense or mawkish indie-pop stuff; I don't like the lead singer's voice!

For a band with some really good album covers, they don't have produce music that I have no interest in listening to!

(it's all subjective though innit)

I think I've said this to you before, but I went to see Biffy Clyro a few years ago on the back of some rather enthusiastic recommendations ("Oooo, if you like Cardiacs, you'll loooove Biffy Clyro!!!"). But the only thing that kept me from leaving after their first couple of songs had chugged along to their underwhelming conclusions was the 2-for-1 beer offer that was on that night :-(

Pepotamo1985

I've done a bit of a volte face on Nevermind. I used to think Bleach and In Utero were OK and Nevermind was a real shitter, but I appreciate Nevermind now (while thinking the other two are a bit naff). It certainly doesn't deserve its praise, and I think it's quite telling that its most vocal fans are either ageing or about 13. Still, it's quite an interesting record I suppose - it offers the illusion of visceral anger and abrasiveness while actually being a very shiny pop album. It's punk for people who don't like punk.

Pepotamo1985

Quote from: gout_pony on June 19, 2015, 10:20:41 AM
Words

I agree with everything you said, apart from maybe the point about Animals, which is easily their best 'un IMO. It's overlong, and actively uninspired and dull in places, but it's the only Floyd album I've been able to revisit in full for a very long time. I tend to revisit certain portions of The Final Cut too.

Wish You Were Here probably occupies this space for me. SOYCD (the first bit) is fantastic, the rest of the album is woeful.

Led Zeppelin IV is very evidently the worst of the first LZ album quarter too, yet is frequently touted as the best Led Zep album. Then again, When The Levee Breaks is probably my favourite Led Zeppelin song.


Kane Jones

Quote from: Pepotamo1985 on June 19, 2015, 10:24:49 AM
It certainly doesn't deserve its praise, and I think it's quite telling that its most vocal fans are either ageing or about 13.

Cheeky cunt.  I didn't praise it that much. 

garbed_attic

Quote from: Neville Chamberlain on June 19, 2015, 10:24:17 AM
I think I've said this to you before, but I went to see Biffy Clyro a few years ago on the back of some rather enthusiastic recommendations ("Oooo, if you like Cardiacs, you'll loooove Biffy Clyro!!!"). But the only thing that kept me from leaving after their first couple of songs had chugged along to their underwhelming conclusions was the 2-for-1 beer offer that was on that night :-(

It's weird as my friends who appreciate Cardiacs and Janelle Monáe and Ulrich Schnauss and Miles Davis and all sorts of goodness all really like Biffy Clyro and I've honestly tried but they do nothing for me! Bizarre.

CaledonianGonzo

Quote from: Kane Jones on June 19, 2015, 10:06:13 AM
I would say this has a lot to do with it.  Hair metal pretty much ruled the rock airwaves in the late eighties and early nineties, and Nevermind (well, pretty much Smells Like Teen Spirit on its own, to be fair) just blew all of it out of the water.

While this is opinion has become the standard bit of text re. Nevermind, I guess it depends which 'rock airwaves' you're referring to.  From Pixies to JAMC there was all sorts of non-hair metal rock music around pre Nevermind.

garbed_attic

Quote from: Pepotamo1985 on June 19, 2015, 10:30:42 AM
I agree with everything you said, apart from maybe the point about Animals, which is easily their best 'un IMO. It's overlong, and actively uninspired and dull in places, but it's the only Floyd album I've been able to revisit in full for a very long time. I tend to revisit certain portions of The Final Cut too.

Wish You Were Here probably occupies this space for me. SOYCD (the first bit) is fantastic, the rest of the album is woeful.

Oh 'Wish You Were Here' is a pretty track and it's simple to play on guitar! :-p

Like... it's a post-Syd Floyd track with mostly palatable lyrics!

I was probably too reserved in my praise for Animals... I do think it drags in places but it also feels surprisingly exciting in other places.

'Echoes' is still my favourite thing they did, though. But I might just like Albatross imagery.

Kane Jones

Quote from: CaledonianGonzo on June 19, 2015, 10:35:15 AM
While this is opinion has become the standard bit of text re. Nevermind, I guess it depends which 'rock airwaves' you're referring to.  From Pixies to JAMC there was all sorts of non-hair metal rock music around pre Nevermind.

They weren't selling vast quantities of records in the same way Bon Jovi and Def Leppard were, though.  But I guess I really meant it in a more personal way.  I pretty much listened to that kind of rock exclusively, then heard Teen Spirit and was a bit scared/excited by it as it sounded nothing like the music I was listening to.  As I said, I was fifteen at the time and had grown up on a diet of KISS, Warrant, Danger Danger, Ratt and even Bad English and FM.  Suddenly there was this huge rock single that sounded nothing like that stuff and it felt cool.  I'm just offering my perspective on it.