Hated/Generally Disliked Albums that you really enjoy

[NatalieZaki]

What's an album that was hated upon release or is generally hated now by a large group of people? A project that despite all that, you really enjoy.

My personal example is Danse Manatee by Animal Collective. And the reason people hate it is because of one thing. The album loves using high pitched sounds a lot. It can be pretty painful to listen to at points, and is definitely an exhausting listen. But despite that, I really love the songwriting and the electroacoustic style that they went for in this project. It's a shame that some high pitches turned people away from a great project. I feel this needs a remaster, like Spirit They're Gone Spirit They've Vanished had a few years ago. Made a lot more people love that album for what it was. And I think if Danse Manatee got the same treatment, I'd see more people throw love towards it.

Another example, but more of the "hated at the time, loved nowadays" is MAYA (or /\/\ /\ Y /\) by M.I.A. This is one of the most forward thinking albums of it's time. It preceded artists like Death Grips, SOPHIE and the PC Music movement as a whole in its sound. Very glitchy, lots of industrial influence, she even sampled Suicide's Ghost Rider. Like this project is insane, and at the time it came out, people fucking hated it, especially since this followed up her smash hit Kala. I'm very happy that nowadays more and more people love this album for what it is, and, in my personal opinion, is M.I.A's best work.

 

[Iguana-0]

Anything by the Insane Clown Posse

 

[Bonkers225]

Anything 90's and early 2000's Limp Bizkit
ICP
Michael Jackson's largely forgotten Blood on the Dance Floor album

 

[merzbun]

Huge love for Danse Manatee. One of my favourite AnCo albums!! I miss when they were weird like that.

I've got a few picks. Metal Machine Music is absolutely one of them, honestly I think it sounds really beautiful and I love all the different textures. As an early noise release its super interesting to me. There's quite a few of those "Fantano 0/10's" that I think are wonderful too (and imo he's a jerk-off so that tracks), love Speeding Bullet 2 Heaven by Kid Cudi and Instant Gratification by DGD which fall around that camp. Never in my life understood why people hate NYC Ghosts & Flowers by Sonic Youth, that's one of my favourite albums of theirs. I remember the shitshow when Whole Lotta Red dropped too, I think that album rules. Also The Burning World by Swans, beautiful record.

 

[NatalieZaki]

Huge love for Danse Manatee. One of my favourite AnCo albums!! I miss when they were weird like that.

I've got a few picks. Metal Machine Music is absolutely one of them, honestly I think it sounds really beautiful and I love all the different textures. As an early noise release its super interesting to me. There's quite a few of those "Fantano 0/10's" that I think are wonderful too (and imo he's a jerk-off so that tracks), love Speeding Bullet 2 Heaven by Kid Cudi and Instant Gratification by DGD which fall around that camp. Never in my life understood why people hate NYC Ghosts & Flowers by Sonic Youth, that's one of my favourite albums of theirs. Also The Burning World by Swans, beautiful record.

yooooooo burning world is good. i get why people find it weak since swans is like VERY prolific, but i still really enjoyed that album

Post automatically merged: Mar 9, 2025

also theres a new swans record coming out later this year im excited

 

[iamthemilkman]

I used to listen to Insane Clown Posse as a kid, from Ringmaster to The Wraith. My friend and I went as them for Halloween one year. I had all of their LP's, EP's, the different VHS tapes they put out like Shockumentary, Big Money Hustlas, and Stranglemania. While I don't listen to them anymore, I'd still defend their '90s stuff. They're one of those groups that you never want to admit that you like/liked because it's met with such derision. And I get it, I'm not even a fan of rap music unless we're talking about Beastie Boys or Rage Against the Machine, both of whom transcended rap music, IMO, since they were more considered "rap rock."

Another album that caught a lot of flak when it released was Bad Religion's The Process of Belief. Despite that, I loved it.

I was also a fan of Dillinger Escape Plan's Miss Machine and Norma Jean's Meridional. While I think time's been kinder to both albums, the immediate reaction from older fans was less kind because they were far more melodic than their prior records.

 

[Asian girls lover]

I used to listen to Insane Clown Posse as a kid, from Ringmaster to The Wraith. My friend and I went as them for Halloween one year. I had all of their LP's, EP's, the different VHS tapes they put out like Shockumentary, Big Money Hustlas, and Stranglemania. While I don't listen to them anymore, I'd still defend their '90s stuff. They're one of those groups that you never want to admit that you like/liked because it's met with such derision. And I get it, I'm not even a fan of rap music unless we're talking about Beastie Boys or Rage Against the Machine, both of whom transcended rap music, IMO, since they were more considered "rap rock."

Another album that caught a lot of flak when it released was Bad Religion's The Process of Belief. Despite that, I loved it.

I was also a fan of Dillinger Escape Plan's Miss Machine and Norma Jean's Meridional. While I think time's been kinder to both albums, the immediate reaction from older fans was less kind because they were far more melodic than their prior records.

Never knew about The Process of Belief, it's one of their best albums.

 

[marky]

Two albums that are commonly referred to as the worst in these bands' discographies:

Probably because it was Mettalica album that I started my adventure with the band with. (The most recent at the time).

And Linkin Park One More Light album - after Chester's suicide, opinions about this album changed, but on release it was heavily heated. Especially the single ‘Heavy’, but I actually liked it from the beginning. For me, it was just another strong evolution in the band's music after ‘Minutes to Midnight’, ‘A Thousand Suns’ (which I personally consider the LP worst album) and ‘Living Things’.

 

[merzbun]

Two albums that are commonly referred to as the worst in these bands' discographies:

Probably because it was Mettalica album that I started my adventure with the band with. (The most recent at the time).

vouch for this, honestly I love the drum production here. it sounds disgusting. songwriting gets eh at points but theres good material

 

[Antilocal123]

Pulse Demon, fuck you.

 

[Lweo4]

I don't know if it counts, seeing that it may be the most mainstream album from them, but I like "All Hope Is Gone", from Slipknot, a lot, at least the members seem to dislike that album a lot.

Edit 1: I also love 21st Century Breakdown from Green Day.

 

[NatalieZaki]

Pulse Demon, fuck you.

YES YES YES MERZBOW OWNS LISTEN TO MAGNESIA NOVA

 

[merzbun]

Merzbow super good, Pulse Demon is great but I always found it funny how it became the big meme one everybody knows and everybody picks as their first. He's got way better, especially as entry albums lol. Still a killer record though

 

[Antilocal123]

Merzbow super good, Pulse Demon is great but I always found it funny how it became the big meme one everybody knows and everybody picks as their first. He's got way better, especially as entry albums lol. Still a killer record though

His record with Boris is genuinely life-changing, I’m glad he’s become one of the faces of noise, he should collab with Hi-C.

 

[mel]

Balance of power by electric light orchestra. It's not regarded particularly well, but I'm fond of it.

 

[merzbun]

His record with Boris is genuinely life-changing, I’m glad he’s become one of the faces of noise, he should collab with Hi-C.

God fuck yeah. Rock Dream is psychotic. The version of Just Abandoned Myself on there is like hell opening up on earth. Incredible album. He really should collab with Hi-C lmfao

 

[Azazelivae]

This is probably not an answer that has fancy words tied to it but Amo by Bring Me The Horizon.

I like it because it's comfy to me.

Sure it's not BMTH heaviest release, sure it probably too Pop of an Album for a Band that typically releasing heavy music but man i don't care.

Many people when Amo release whining "Why not Sempiternal?" "Why not Suicide-Season" etc, etc. but i'm gonna be real, if BMTH for some reason gonna make every single one of their Album to be Sempiternal i think those people gonna hate it and proceed to listen to Sempiternal anyway.

 

[miguk]

I don't listen to too much that is truly widely hated; most of the stuff I listen to that others don't is just too off-the-radar for normies to have heard or in a genre they wouldn't listen to anyways. That said, I can add a few that kind of fit this topic:

I don't think many people actually hate David Bowie's Earthling era, but everyone seemingly stopped talking about it after he died. That is, everything before and after got referenced when people were mourning his death, but not a single person seemed to express fond memories of listening to "Little Wonder", "Dead Man Walking", or "I'm Afraid of Americans".

The Exploited are a bunch of c***s, but Punks Not Dead still had some very memorable songs, including the title song (which is often considered the theme song for the whole genre), "Sex & Violence", and "I Believe In Anarchy".

Failure was part of the little contingent of LA bands that imitated grunge and would occasionally get boxed in with post-grunge later on to signal that they were hated. While Magnified isn't among the best pseudo-grunge albums, it did produce a few good songs, such as "Frogs" and "Moth".

A Flock of Seagulls are often considered a one hit wonder, and I'll admit they drop off fast after the first album. However, their self-titled album is fairly good for a new wave/synth-pop album, and while everyone says "I Ran (So Far Away)" is their best, it's really "Space Age Love Song" that deserves to be given that credit.

The Human League's output prior to Dare (the album that the hit single "Don't You Want Me" was on) is highly underrated. They were a mixed post-punk/synth-pop band then, rather than the pure synth-pop band they later became. Travelogue is worth a listen to, at the very least to hear "Being Boiled". The spin-off band Heaven 17 was a more loyal continuation of the original than the band that followed.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers' One Hot Minute was hated on mainly because it wasn't as good as Blood Sugar Sex Magik. That's kind of a harsh comparison, though. "Warped", "My Friends", "Aeroplane", and "Coffee Shop" are all just as legit as anything off of BSSM.

Not an album, but Slowdive is a perfectly legit band despite what critics back in the day argued. Choices songs to listen to include "Alison", "Blue Skied an' Clear", "Catch the Breeze", "Star Roving", and "When the Sun Hits".

 

[Johnathan Smikey]

 

[NatalieZaki]

His record with Boris is genuinely life-changing, I’m glad he’s become one of the faces of noise, he should collab with Hi-C.

the live one or the one with the fucked up name. the live one (rock dream) is one of the best live albums ever

 

[Antilocal123]

the live one or the one with the fucked up name. the live one (rock dream) is one of the best live albums ever

Both.