It's overrated, but not bad. Definitely worth a listen for Paranoid Android, Let Down, Karma Police, No Surprises and Lucky.
Shareefruck
Registered User
I've always felt Daydream Nation was overrated. To my ears, it kind of just meanders and alternates between so-so and good but not great tracks after Teenage Riot. I like what Sonic Youth's about and everything, but that one doesn't seem any better than the other albums they did at around that time.
One that doesn't have quite as serious of a reputation but legitimately feels mediocre to me is "Turn on the Bright Lights" by Interpol. I liked it when I was younger, but now I find it to be a bland/amateurish rip-off of various bands.
I would take OK Computer over either of these very easily, and think Sgt Pepper is in a completely different stratosphere from any of the three.
One that doesn't have quite as serious of a reputation but legitimately feels mediocre to me is "Turn on the Bright Lights" by Interpol. I liked it when I was younger, but now I find it to be a bland/amateurish rip-off of various bands.
I would take OK Computer over either of these very easily, and think Sgt Pepper is in a completely different stratosphere from any of the three.
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I think of them like this:
Kid A - 4.5 (Brilliant)
Brilliant
1. Everything in its Right Place
2. Kid A
3. Idioteque
4. National Anthem
5. Motion Picture Soundtrack
Great
6. Morning Bell
7. In Limbo
8. Treefingers
9. Optimistic
10. How to Disappear Completely
OK Computer - 3.0 (Very Good)
Great
1. Airbag
2. Climbing Up the Walls
3. Paranoid Android
4. Subterranean Homesick Blues
Good
5. Lucky
6. Karma Police
7. The Tourist
Positive
8. Exit Music
9. Fitter Happier
Neutral
10. Let Down
Dislike
11. No Surprises
12. Electioneering
You'll notice I slightly changed my mind from what I said earlier
I love Exit Music. When I first listened to that song, I really fell in love with the album. It has such a dark mood and presence. We hope that you choke is such an angry and dark line.
Also love How to Disappear Completely and Treefingers. Can close my eyes and just go somewhere else. The buildup at the end for HtDC with the strings to the end with the crash crash of the cymbols...goosebumps. Treefingers is a great kinda re-set for the back half. Further brings you mellow after the height of HtDC. Gives you a nice resting spot imo.
Shareefruck
Registered User
I don't think that assessment is accurate. Overrated and overexposed/over-hyped are two different things. If it is rated highly by people who do know about it, and you don't think it's deserving of it, then you think it's overrated. Whether or not alot of people know about it in order to rate it highly is irrelevant to this.
Know Your Enemy
Registered
Hippasus
1,9,45,165,495,1287,
Shareefruck
Registered User
I can see what you mean by both of those choices. I think they're still great, but definitely at least a few notches below their reputation for me.
OK Computer got amazing reviews. It made so many critics list for best album of the year in 1997. It wasn't the highest selling album of the decade or had songs you couldn't get off the radio, it had incredible critical acclaim.
I'd throw a different 'stone' on this one - Exile on Main Street by the Rolling Stones. But even that has plenty of contenders. There's a hell of a lot of overrated albums floating around out there. In fact, I think if I were pressed, I'd say In the Aeroplane Over the Sea is the most overrated - seeing how so many people say how great it is, I've listened to it several times TRYING to find something in it that's not so bad, but I just can't. Then again, in some circles Trout Mask Replica is worshiped and I can't even get through the entire album as it's completely horrible. I also find Illinois by Sufjan Stevens to be unnotable.
That said, I happen to like "Second Coming" better than The Stone Roses eponymous and much heralded debut.
I'm going to shock you here, so brace yourself: I agree with you 100%. I find that album so bland as to be reduced to background noise whenever I've tried to listen to it.
Shareefruck
Registered User
I swear, you've said this exact thing dozens of times before about various subjects.
If it helps flip everything back to the reality that you're used to, I do think Trout Mask Replica is a ****ing masterpiece. But I agree about Exile on Main Street and In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. I mean, I'd call them decent to good albums, but nothing spectacular or close to perfect. It boggles my mind that of the four or five peak Stones album, that is the one considered by many to be their magnum opus.
Hackett
BAKAMAN
I don't think I've ever heard radiohead on a top 40 station, but I think karma police and creep got decent play on your generic rock stations.
Shareefruck
Registered User
Again, not actually a classic, but one popular album that I think is outright stabbing-your-own-eyes-out terrible is Hot Fuss by The Killers.
If you count, I'm sure the number's less than one dozen.
I think Exile is extremely boring musically. I find Aeroplane unlistenable. Mangum's voice is like nails on a chalkboard to me, and the music that goes along with it doesn't strike me as particularly inspired. Trout Mask is like trying to dig my brain out of my skull with razor blades.
Shareefruck
Registered User
Digging into my skull with razor-blades in the most exhilerating and orgasmic way possible would actually be an apt description of it for me.
One of my favorite things about music is that dynamic that some types have where the first dozen or so times something may sound like nails on a chalkboard, especially when uninitiated, but if I let it take me and throw away preconceptions, they end up completely blowing my musical worldview away-- With In The Aeroplane Over the Sea, that struggle is there, and there is a point where it clicks and stops sounding annoying/grating-- but even then, my reaction to it ends up being-- "Oh, cool.. This is nice..... but.... that's it?"
It never crosses over into something that ultimately ends up feeling like it's worth the effort, really.
One of my favorite things about music is that dynamic that some types have where the first dozen or so times something may sound like nails on a chalkboard, especially when uninitiated, but if I let it take me and throw away preconceptions, they end up completely blowing my musical worldview away-- With In The Aeroplane Over the Sea, that struggle is there, and there is a point where it clicks and stops sounding annoying/grating-- but even then, my reaction to it ends up being-- "Oh, cool.. This is nice..... but.... that's it?"
It never crosses over into something that ultimately ends up feeling like it's worth the effort, really.
Really? I'm surprised you like Hot Fuss but hate Turn on the Bright Lights. They seem like pretty similar entities to me, with similar weaknesses-- I'd actually give TOTBL the edge for having a thicker/tastier sound.We now return you to your regularly scheduled program...
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HisIceness
This is Hurricanes Hockey
I like 90's music, but I have never understood the appeal of Radiohead. I've listened to some of their stuff and have heard "Creep" on the radio a couple of times and it's just not my cup of tea, yet their fans worship the band like they are the greatest musicians to ever live.
- Feb 23, 2006
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Maybe it's because (IMO) Creep is one of their very worst songs.
But to me, Radiohead stands above the rest mostly because of the energy Yorke's vocals carry. There's something underlying about the combination of his physical and vocal art that got to me from the very first time I heard their music.
