Five modern masterpieces it took critics too long to cotton onto
When you’re a rock god, it’s easy to romanticise the process of creating your discography – you hit a stroke of genius in creating the record, you release it, and you’re inundated with scores of lavish praise that never ends and will see you and your masterpieces soaring through to the legend status until the end of time.
Or, at least that’s how they like to imagine it. The reality can be far different, with hard-fought press tours, unimpressed fanbases, and critics turning up their noses, all set to conspire against them. Any given band or artist can think they’ve conceived a masterpiece, but unless that can be agreed upon in the eyes of the masses, the only award landing on your doorstep will be the prize for the most inflated ego.
By anyone’s standards, that must be fairly soul-destroying – but sometimes, with just a little bit of luck and the power of time, things can look up. As if by magic, albums that were once panned can become adored by the critics, not often for any rhyme or reason other than just a change of heart. Infuriating for the artist, but beneficial to the fans, it can give a new lease of life to albums that may have previously fallen by the wayside.
In time, they can not only be redeemed but even become classics, with retrospectively hailed records forming the basis of the stuff of legend for comeback kings and queens of the music industry. In that spirit, here we count down five of the best albums that were, at one time or another, considered some of the worst, but have clawed back their reputations all the same.
Five masterpiece albums that were originally panned:
The Maccabees – ‘Given to the Wild’
It turns out that third time wasn’t the charm for The Maccabees, as with a duo of successful albums already under their belts, by the time they released Given to the Wild in 2012, the champagne had suddenly turned sour. The initial critical reception wasn’t exactly kind, with many claiming that as the wash of indie sleaze began to fade, the band struggled to find a footing in this new era of darker and rockier indie.
But as time has worn on, the sun has started to shine on The Maccabees’ third work once again, as the band’s influences beyond the immediate indie rock scene were expanded and fully realised, now including the retrospective genius of the likes of David Bowie, Kate Bush, and the Stone Roses. There was undeniably an initial commercial struggle, but with a Mercury Prize nomination eventually heading their way, a bitter era was ended with something sweet.
Nirvana – ‘In Utero’
Of course, some may find this contentious. In Utero shot straight to number one, and was universally adored. And yes, it was, but only after a swirling critical hurricane had hit its heart, forcing Nirvana to go into hiding and readdress their options. After early indications that the album would be panned for its poor lyrics and sound quality, the band remixed ‘Heart-Shaped Box’ and ‘All Apologies’ – and thank god they did.
It was because of this that when In Utero eventually did hit the airwaves, it became the instant cultural behemoth that Nirvana had always been accustomed to. In the end, their decision to rework the record paid dividends, because not only did it score them another jewel in the crown, but also became their lasting legacy, with Kurt Cobain taking his own life just months later.
Radiohead – ‘Hail to the Thief’
Radiohead have always been a band you could consider as critical marmite – with some absolute bangers under their belts, undeniably, but also many, many misses. Because of this, it’s perhaps easy to dismiss their works before they’ve even had the chance to begin, given the sometimes peppered reputation that precedes it. That was exactly the trap that their 2003 album, Hail to the Thief, unfortunately fell victim to.
It was the moment that some felt the band had lost their spark. Hail to the Thief was hardly original, and it didn’t seem to sing with any of their characteristic brilliance, either. Instead, it was stuck somewhere in between. However, time has been a healer to this album, as it has for so many – and now, it can be appreciated as Radiohead truly in the thick of their guitar-slinging complexity, even if it took the masses – and the band – some time to fully realise it.
Britney Spears – ‘Blackout’
It should be a true point of cultural shame that Britney Spears’ mental breakdown in the late 2000s was treated as the laughing stock that it was, especially given the harrowing truths that would emerge regarding this era in the singer’s life later on. But to this end, the album she released in 2007, Blackout, was treated with the same sneering, critical dismissal – even though it was Spears bearing her soul, truly in a cry for help.
In songs like ‘Piece of Me’, where she laments being a child star attempting to make her way in the adult world, there’s a disarming honesty which the critics largely turned a blind eye to at the time, but retrospectively, has come to be hailed as one of Spears’ ultimate masterpieces. The pop canon is all too easy to naysay and cast off as superfluous, but in this moment, it was the reckoning to a moment that would change her life forever.
Metallica – ‘St Anger’
When Metallica released St Anger in 2003, it was basically a miracle that they had got to that point in the first place. Through a recording process where the band were at each other’s necks and only just avoided the brink of disaster, the album was a testament to the fact that if they could make it through that, they could make it through anything.
The critics were less enamoured by that spirit, as were the diehard fans. Unimpressed by the lack of classic Metallica sound and missing guitar riffs – quite essential for a hard rock band, really – St Anger wasn’t the return to form that everyone was hoping for. Despite this, in hindsight, certain thoughts have changed, and indeed, the album came to be seen as a pivotal part of the journey for the band getting back to their former glory later in the 2000s. They say everyone’s a critic, but those scathing reviews don’t have to last forever.
