"Pinkerton" albums.

Someone on the Malkmus thread saying "Malkmus hasn't done anything good since 'Wowee Zowee'" made me think of this.

What are some albums that when they came out everybody (both fans, critics, the "somewhere in between" of pitchfork media and the general public) ALL said:

"Ugh! What the hell is this? This is awful. This TOTALLY SUCKS."

But, NOW when you look BACK on those albums everybody says:

"Wow! Classic. Best thing they ever did."

Basically, albums that were mercilessly slated when they came out but now are reappreciated as being excellent and groundbreaking.

As the subject of this post, Weezer's 2nd album is the textbook example of this. It was famously voted "Second Worst Album of 1996" in the Rolling Stone reader's poll. Also, after "Slanted and Enchanted" and "Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain" NOBODY was saying "Wowee Zowee" was even a tenth as good as its predecessors when it was released.

Any others?

Brian

Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique (proto trip-hop album)

Winger-In the Heart of the Young

There are probably a dozen each of albums from Neil Young and Lou Reed.

Sonic Youth - Dirty

Originally posted by Brian Wallace:
Weezer's 2nd album is the textbook example of this. It was famously voted "Second Worst Album of 1996" in the Rolling Stone reader's poll.

if you ask Rolling Stone readers they'll probably still say that the album sucks ass … its reputation has grown among emo kids, critics, and people really into music, i don't think casual listeners are all up on that album now

I find The Strokes' 'Room on Fire' to be much better than its given credit for. Its definitely more than the Is This It rehash it was labeled as. Every song is a winner, and some are champions, and it remains extremely relistenable.

led zep - presence

DJ Shadow - The Private Press

easy…:

Exile On Mainstreet

Originally posted by i'm her slave:
easy…:

Exile On Mainstreet

Really? I didn't know that was thought of as an inferior album when it was released. That's interesting. The attitude about it has certainly changed, though.

Brian

Originally posted by Brian Wallace:

Originally posted by i'm her slave:
easy…:

Exile On Mainstreet

Really? I didn't know that was thought of as an inferior album when it was released. That's interesting. The attitude about it has certainly changed, though.

Brian

Richards quote below is very similar to your introduction on this thread:

I don't know what (record reviewers) want. We put together a side you can listen to in the morning or fall asleep to late at night and it says, Side two is the only one without a barrelhouse rocker. Well, I mean, you can't please everyone, can you? Actually there's several nice things in it. It's only that they're always waiting for another Let It Bleed… God, when that one came out, the critical reaction was no better than lukewarm.

- Mick Jagger, June 1972

When the record came out it didn't sell particularly well at the beginning, and it was also pretty much universally panned. But within a few years the people who had written the reviews saying it was a piece of crap were extolling it as the best frigging album in the world.

- Keith Richards, 2003

Originally posted by kosmo:
Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique (proto trip-hop album)

I don't know if it was panned as much as it was just simply ignored by most people.

Originally posted by TheREALHunter:

Originally posted by kosmo:
Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique (proto trip-hop album)

I don't know if it was panned as much as it was just simply ignored by most people.

that is probably more correct… i admit to not being taken with it when it first came out was… wanting to hear "Licensed to Ill II"… however over the years it something I've grown to appreciate. really wish they'd do a deluxe version of PB because there were a number of wicked b-sides released with that record.

Originally posted by kosmo:

Originally posted by TheREALHunter:

Originally posted by kosmo:
Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique (proto trip-hop album)

I don't know if it was panned as much as it was just simply ignored by most people.

that is probably more correct… i admit to not being taken with it when it first came out was… wanting to hear "Licensed to Ill II"… however over the years it something I've grown to appreciate. really wish they'd do a deluxe version of PB because there were a number of wicked b-sides released with that record.

To be honest I originally didn't give a shit about hearing it as I DIDN'T want to hear Licensed to Ill II and just assumed that was what it would be; fortunately a good friend of mine forced me to listen to it a couple days after it was released and I proceeded to have my fucking mind blown, we were both really big on the 3 Feet High and Rising record at the time so to us this was the next level as it was even MORE sample heavy. And yeah the B-sides on that record are great, especially "Your Sisters Def" and "Some Dumb Cop Gave Me Two Tickets Already" (Mike D doing a horrible Barry White/Isaac Hayes impression nicking Milli Vanilli lyrics never fails to crack me the hell up).

the one I always dug was "And What You Give Is What You Get" the instrumental with that great "The Jam" sample at the end.

Originally posted by kosmo:
the one I was dug was "And What You Give Is What You Get" the instrumental with that great "The Jam" sample at the end.

This is 1975 that rope shit is dead! or something like that HAHA

i wanna say in the aeroplane over the sea, but that might be the ignored thingy too

The Bends by Radiohead got panned by critics I think, and I'm not sure if fans really loved it initially. Now some people argue that it's even better than OK Computer.

I guess it did well, but all I remember anyone talking about when Modest Mouse's "The Moon and Antarctica" came out was how they had sold out. I love that album now.