American Pie

No matter how hard I try, even putting myself in the right conditions to properly listen to it, I just can’t get into this. All I’m left with are a few vaguely interesting melodies and this constant underlying cheesiness, even on the more energetic tracks. I just can’t do it. It’s completely bland and tasteless to me.

Had only listened to American Pie before. The album was fine, nothing special. But apparently Don McLean is an abusive arsehole. (Should I stop googling artists as I listen to the albums? Maybe. But I probably won't.)

I could understand including American Pie *the song* in a list of 1001 songs you must hear. Not my favorite, but it’s a very important, very iconic tune. But the whole ALBUM? Hell nah. This thing is just bland early 70s easy listening. The kind of Boomer music that’s rightfully been forgotten.

American Pie the song might just be my least favourite song I’ve ever heard. It’s in the conversation for sure. American Pie the album met my expectations. Appalling. I didn’t know ‘Vincent’ was by the same dude, but as soon as I heard that intro ‘Starry starry night’ I cringed even deeper.

Absolutely dreadful, not perhaps quite as universally unpleasant as many of the albums we’ve endured, I might even go as far as to say that “Everybody Loves Me, Baby” is a good tune but still pretty much unlistenable. One star. Tom.

This has no business being on this list.

Skipped

Nice... the perfect ending to a full week of 1-star albums... Look, if this were the first time hearing the title track, I might have felt differently about this. But it's not. Not by a long shot. And speaking of long, that title track feels so much longer than a mere eight and half minutes, doesn't it? Whenever I hear that first "A long, long time ago" on the radio, I reflexively flip to something else or just turn the radio off, as silence would be preferred to having to endure that "long, long" rambling yet again. Hopefully, today's full listen (on principle of the challenge) was the last time I ever have to hear this song again in its entirety. As for the rest of the album, it's pleasant enough, I suppose, though a bit too sleepy for my personal tastes. In fact, like the title track, it feels much, much longer than it really is. For me, this is a 1. The main feature of the album is the title track, and it's simply too long and has been too overplayed for me to feel anything but disgust for it. Damn, what a terrible week this was... I dare say, the week the music died...

Fuck this was a snore. I guess it had American pie so that’s something?

#413 / 1089 Heard before? ❌ Revisit? ❌ The name Don McLean is familiar, but I've not idea from what context. I of course know the song American Pie, it's been played so much in all kinds of movies and situations, but I wonder if any other tracks are familiar. Oh yeah, he is folk artist. I hate folk. (I'll admit this is not the worst I've heard, the guys has a nice voice and timbre to it. That's a nope 1/5 from me.

I hated this 30 years ago when it had a resurgence in the mid 90's and I hate it even more now. Everything about it. Even just the words I'd need to use to describe it. If you make it through "Vincent" in one sitting you should go get a hotdog or something to reward yourself

I'm only 100 albums in on this journey and I'm already feeling folk rock fatigue.

This album is a great litmus test. It has one great, if overplayed, song at the very start while the rest of the album is uninteresting and boring, to put it lightly. So you can tell by someones review if they are actually considering the entire album or only thinking of the one good song they've actually heard before and ignoring the rest. American Pie should probably be included in 1001 SONGS you must hear before you die, not albums.

American Pie is the best song on this and it’s not a song I ever want to hear again.

El día que esta lista murió.

awful

Diet Coke Jim Croce.

Nothing about this stood out to me, and in good conscience can I give this anything higher than a 1.

Oh my fucking god will the boomercore slop ever end?????? I'm so fucking sick of this shit, may have to skip these albums next time I inevitably get about 5 in a week

straight up ass

Honestly.....this album was just lame. Just a bunch of Boomer claptrap. It's all the American Pie single. That's what this guy is. What about the other tracks? Nobody gives a shit. People just want eight minutes of pop culture symbolism wrapped in a flag. I don't think it deserves 1 star but I don't think it deserves higher either.

begint met een afgezaagd nummer en verglijdt zachtjes in dertien-in-een-dozijn slaapverwekkende klaagzang... nee bedankt

Too many english and american singer-songwriters on this list. Lyrics are pretty banal. 1.5/5

After American pie it all sounds the same to me.

Heard Before? Only "the song". Notes: - "the song" is nostalgia porn. yuck. - perhaps the ultimate 70s single-plus-filler album. - "Vincent" did remind me to listen to much better songs about Van Gogh by Jonathan Richman and Joni Mitchell. Verdict: It sounds like Gordon Lightfoot wrote this whole album while sleepwalking. Listen Again? Please, no.

Ey ma this is too america I ate pasta with gabagool so im Italian now meet at aunts for some real music forget about it

A case study in why it’s important to rate the album. as a whole. “American Pie” is undeniably a great accomplishment (and i say that despite the fact that a guy in my sophomore year dorm blasted that (very long) song once every day, for the entire year). But the rest of the album is mostly a putrid mess, including derivatives of the title track, more maudlin nostalgia, purple poetry. 🤮 A 1 (anger inducing).

The wheels fall off this after the first track. And honestly, even the first track is now pretty cringe even if I really liked it as a kid. Sorry Dad

I hate this album

Partly heard before Saved 1/10 Top track: American Pie

"This song alone should be enough to put it on the list" 🙄 We have a 1001 Songs book for a reason. Overall: 1/10

Bye bye American Pie. I could say that I liked you, but that is a lie. You drove me to drinking whiskey and rye, thinking "this is the day I hope I die, this is the day I hope I die"

goddamn this is the most boomer-coded bullshit I ever heard

Yikes. So many good albums that could have been on the list. So many good genres that are underrepresented. Don McLean...? Really...?

Just way too much folk in the 1001.

Shite

Absolutely turgid.

Not for me. 1/5

Wait Don McLean recorded other songs? I see why they titled this album American Pie. No denying the power of that song. The rest were just fillers lacking any sort of substance. Poor guy. Really wanted to like the rest of this album. Unlike the cover, thumbs down.

I’ve always secretly hated America Pie. And I don’t care for the rest of this folky storytelling album either. 1.5

I've hated the title track of this album most of my life. Was not looking forward to listening to a whole album, but I did, and I was right. Nothing against Don or his fans, I just hate this type of music. Shoutout to a few small parts of The Grave for being almost listenable.

Terrible

Not good. So old. Didn’t pull much from it

Any goodwill earned with American pie was lost with the g slur. 1 star

Here's a slice of Americana (Pie). Donny is really only known for the title track but it's a good one. Gotta hear it every 4th of July or you just ain't a patriot. Even if Weird Al made a better parody, it gets this album on the list. The rest of the songs are lackluster in my opinion. McLean is a poet and is a solid lyrical storyteller but I'm dozing off. Won't revisiting this record but will play the hit annually...1.35 stars.

Not good. Boring. Sounds like open night mic at the local dive bar...

Fuck Don McLean

Pretty depressing, pretty dull

Like the Travis album I got the day before, it's an album you can only like if you're a child of the right circumstances. I'm not. The most American thing about me is my love of gas station hot dogs, and I didn't have a dad or grandpa to gaslight me into pretending this is good which I really think is the only way anyone could possibly like this.

Really all this album has going for it is the title track. Some others sound like o.k. alternate versions of American Pie. Not that impressive if 1/10 songs is worth listening to. 1/5

Ugh

Entirely juiceless man

Maybe if I’d never heard the title track before (I’ll be damned, karaoke, moms, grade school, and tv!) this would have made more of an impact. I feel the narrative around this album’s inclusion on the list is something like “it’s more than a one-hit wonder!”. But when the other singles and album cuts are very… ok… what’s the point?

The ultimate boomer story. Write a great American anthem and live off it for 50 years. Then deny that COVID the vaccine was safe...

I can't stand American Pie. 1/10

Maybe it's time to let this music die...

Wow.

Meh, next

There are a handful of songs I never want to hear again, the title track is near the top of that list. Turns out i never want to hear the rest of this album again either.

This guy can make two types of song. Slow acoustic, and “American pie”. Seriously, “Everyone Loves Me Baby” sounds exactly the same as American Pie. Such a boring and overrated album. Probably only on here because of nostalgia.

This album is a trap. I dont think it needs ot be here ... Sure. A rock n roll moment. But is this really essential listening? The song yes. The rest no. Guys! c’mon...Maybe my first time for the whole ALBUM. The nostalgia inherent to track 1 is drawn out and expanded for a whole album, as if by a Spinner at a Wheel of Gloom. Now I don't blame people for throwing out the album in frustration. I own a discarded copy myself. Ha! I get the joke. The cover is so iconic. Its says “All American Party its all Ok”, but its not. Bait and Switch? Who wants a copy of the pop folk rock equivalent of Auld Lang Syne? Tricky. And a Bummer. And now I need an antidote to lift my spirits now! yuk.Wish i didn't listen. Bastards.

God damn singer songwriters.

No thanks, beyond the title track— the songs are almost indistinguishable bog standard folk songs that are not my preference.

blegh

This is the color beige in album form. Although in the most daredevil sections, it does attempt to make you fall asleep through some daring crooning about something or another. Miss American Pie is the most famous track off this album and it has always been grating to my ear. I don't know if it's the sadly saccharine tone and how it goes on about a changing America that has never existed for a lot of us, or maybe it's just the singer's nasal vanilla voice. It was a tough sit through the rest of the album.

First of all, it's insane to make a 10-song, 36 minute album and have the first song be fully 25% of the album's running time. Second of all, Don McLean is wack as hell. Billy Joel with an acoustic guitar without any of the charm. The only person to have been definitively bested by a Weird Al parody. An abusive piece of shit, too. Extorted his own wife and daughter, essentially. The day his music dies will be a joy.

Did you know Don McLean had other songs besides American Pie? May as well not. this is fucking boring.

The title track is an early entry in the canon of tedious boomer rock self mythologizing. The rest is like a hippy Billy Joel, or a best a saccharine Nick Drake with the dark pathos replaced by bland sentimentality. It's mostly gentle and inert acoustic guitar/piano open mic night crooning and insipid lyrics. The slightly more fleshed out arrangements like on Winterwood (with a shuffling snare, a bit of melodic bass, and some pretty electric piano parts) give it a bit more liveliness.

Gear: Fostex TH610 Artwork: 👍 Mix: unrein bis unangenehm zischende Vocals, nicht vorhandene Dynamik und Begeisterung 👎 Musik: ein unnötig überlanges aber eingängiges \"American Pie\" als Opener zu einem nur unnötigen Album... 🤷‍♂️ Wertung: 🥧(🥧)/5

https://youtu.be/8V_hCqO6UQs?si=ZDhCgwdJU3Nb2S_c

No me gusta el folk

I resent being made to listen to any album where the best song is American Pie by Don McLean

Albumet ofullständigt

1 popular song

Ugh, this guy. "American Pie" - No one should make songs about "The King" and "The Jester" unless their name is "Bob" and "Dylan". This is one of the songs that gave boomers their insufferable status. Good piano playing (McLean is not playing it). I'm not going to track by track this one. It mirrors other stuff coming out at the same time. It's Paul Simon without the plain observation, Nick Drake without the sincerity, Joan Baez without taking a stand, Lenard Cohen for optimists. It sounds very cleanly produced, I'm sure that's a big reason why it's on this list. But I'm not a studio technician, so whadda ya gonna do.

You need to peel away the layers here. You need to forget about all those Shitty FM rotations of the lead track. Remove that memory of Tyson Fury and ringside karaoke. The only way to approach this album is to listen to it as a virgin. I felt alone and naked. But once your pants have been pulled down, American Pie is quite a song. I found it hard to pick up any reference points listening with fresh ears, Rock meets ragtime? The rest of the album was Paul Simon outtakes. Appalling.

American country... 1 hit wonder. Sehr ruhig

Nope.

Tooo slow and boring

Boring

Lo único bueno es la primera canción. No estaría aquí si la música gringa no estuviera sobrerrepresentada

Folk music not my thing and this album only reinforced my dislike. American Pie is much like Stairway to Heaven, overplayed and overrated. I change to something else as soon as I hear it start. Listening to this album, especially Babylon, reminded me of being back in a Catholic church, as a kid Not only made me sleepy, made me consider converting to Satanism. I cranked out some Bon Scott as soon as this album ended. Felt better and quickly dismissed the idea of joining the dark side. Fav song is Everybody Loves me, baby. Just because it was different than all the other songs. I would give zero stars, if I figure out how to do.

one song which is famous, but not even good

Given that the opening track is actually more irritating to me than my recurrent stomach ulcer, I can't say I'm filled with joyful anticipation of this. Still, except in exceptional circumstances, I have to listen to every minute of every track. So 8 minutes of untreated sewerage is on its way... Well, it's terrible most of the way through, and I think I made more effort to sit through it than he made writing and recording it. The last two tracks are an improvement, getting a mood that is atmospheric and interesting - it's too little too late, but look at it this way - it's a high one star album - not one where I wish there was a zero available.

Boring. Really dislike the soft story telling vocals. Instrumentals were uninspiring.

trop chiant

I’ve listened to some dull albums in my time, but this one takes the biscuit… annoyingly dull!

Tricia Restivo gave me a ride to school every day and she always blared this from her Suzuki Samurai. It was better than taking the bus, but I swore I'd never listen to this again. I prefer pie over cake, but always abstain from Don McLean.

Las cosas que hacen escuchar a uno.

Good but it’s been done to death at this point. Dull dull dull

I'm bettin' this is gonna be more Blah Old White Guy Music. Folk is really not my bag. At Song #2/10, I'm thinking this might be a 1/5. WAAAAAAAY too fringe-jacket-and-round-sunglasses-playing-guitar-on-the-lawn for me! Ick. Triple ick. So much hippie-ness. I'm feeling bad that I want to give it a 1, but really, a 2 would be charity. Not my bag.

I had a right good snore up to this. Fucked me right off. Right, I'm off to guzzle a gallon of Guinness in a beer garden. Ta-ra.

More 70s gold. I bet Robert Plant's favourite is 'Everybody Loves me, Baby'. Absolute baby botherer.

Apart from the 2,very well known, hits on this album it felt dated and mawkish- sorry

Do not like

Ugh. Schmaltz. Dull.

boring

A mostly instrumental album with a vibrant mix between psychodelic and eerie.