Badmotorfinger

Every generation has a handful of perfect albums. This is one of them.

I know I'm in the minority here, but I genuinely think this is one of the most overrated albums of all time. I've tried to hear what everyone else hears — the groundbreaking production, the emotional depth, the artistic vision — and I just get boredom. Track after track of self-indulgent noodling dressed up as profundity. The emperor has no clothes on this one, and the fact that so many critics fell over themselves to praise it says more about groupthink than it does about the music. I'm sure the artist put real effort and passion into this, but passion doesn't automatically equal quality. Skip it.

I keep seeing this on 'best of' lists and I honestly think people are just copying each other's homework at this point. There's nothing here that hasn't been done better elsewhere. The emperor has no clothes and the praise is baffling.

I go back and forth on this — some days it's a 4, some days it's a 4.5. The inconsistency in my own feelings about it probably reflects the slight inconsistency of the album itself. But at its best, this is breathtaking.

The production alone is worth the listen, but the songwriting elevates it further.