The Modern Dance

Just checked back and when I was served up the other Pere Ubu album on the list I compared it to a flock of seagulls and came down on enjoying the squawking chip stealing, shit on your head little bastards better. For the avoidance of doubt I was referring to the seagulls. So you can make up your own assumptions of how I view this album and the cacophonous talentless twats responsible for making it. 1/5 28/3/26

Not for me 1/5

Mitä ihmettä

I guess there are more bots here than i thought

I swear, punk music can have decent vocals. Not here. Nope. What do we say to the god of good music? Not Today. 1 star (I mean, what is this awful sound?)

No

Honestly, this was terrible

There are many albums on this list which include incoherent noises, weird idiosyncratic vocals, or are otherwise just grating and unpleasant to listen to. At first I found some of these interesting in that it could be fun to write a scathing review, or I felt that by enduring them I might be challenging myself intellectually to understand what people of a more artistic bent see in such pieces. But the more of these that come up, the more I simply find them tiresome. There's a reason the mainstream is mainstream, and it's mostly because it's good. That statement might be anathema to an a lover of the avant-garde with niche tastes, but I find it hard to believe that that crowd isn't just kidding themselves. Why subject yourself to tuneless singing and weird recorder noises when there's so much music out that that's actually pleasant, moving, danceable, or any of the other qualities that stuff like this lacks? I've made peace with the fact my tastes are basic, this is simply not my thing at all

I didn’t connect with this one, quite the opposite.

The first song on this album was such an F U to my ears. What a prick- absolutely HATE that noise nonsense. Didn’t give the rest a listen because it’s clear this is a guy who is trying to hurt peoples’ ears, music should sound GOOD.

This was like listening to a chemical reaction

Listening to this album was one of the longest 30 minutes of my life and ruined my morning.I was not in the mood for this fucking album #ass.

Between the first 20 seconds of ear rape and one of the last songs where he just breaks glass for 30 seconds. Honestly everything between this also sucked

I can't with this one. It's like they went out of their way to find the most grating and irritating noises they could possibly find, then broke that up with the most garbled and incomprehensible vocals imaginable. Everyone involved with this abomination should be ashamed and should be legally barred from calling themselves musicians. It's actually crazy to me that someone could listen to this fetid pile of noises and think this belongs in a list of 1001 albums you should hear before you die. No one should have to listen to this, and I wouldn't be surprised if they used this album as a form of torture at guantanamo bay.

just fuck off please

Drit å høre på. Som å ha tinitus i 36 min. 1/5, skulle gjerne gitt den mindre. (Savner noe bra fra denne lista nå..)

Kva er greia med alle ulydane som meir eller mindre konsekvent kjem i høyre øyra gjennom heile dette albumet? Mogleg det hadde vore tåleleg om eg hadde høyrt heile med kun venstre, men det gidd eg ikkje å sjekke. Nokre låtar starta lovande i to sekund, og så kom det ein ein eller annan helvetes lyd.

Steaming hot garbage.

Samo zbog prve pesme automatski im smanjujem ocenu albuma. Taj početak me je toliko izbacio iz takta da sam odmah tog trena postao hejter ovog benda/čoveka. Ja ne znam šta nije uredu sa Perom i ko mu je finansijski omogućio da snimi ovaj album. Ova knjiga - 1001 album koji moraš da slušaš za svoga života - je bukvalno samo marketing za bendove poput ovog (sigurno je Pera platio da se nadje u ovoj knjizi) jer je ovo sve samo ne dobra muzika. Ko je bio u fazonu, eee aj da snimimo još albuma od Pere, ta osoba u zatvor direkt ide. Ima nekoliko delova po nekim pesmama što zvuči normalno i zanimljivo i to je možda sveukupno ceo minut dok ostalih pola sata samo nečije šizofrenično cepanje i bukvalno samo mučenje mog mozga i bubnih opni. Tekst nisam slušao jer su me ostali zvukovi previše ometali ali sumnjam da bi mi to promenilo mišljenje i ocenu. Isto kao i King Crimson, pokušavaju neki eksperimentalni zvuk da odrade ali hoće to dupe moje kad sviraš na raštimovanim instrumentima. I ONA GLUPA FRULA, BLOK FLAUTA ILI KAZOO ILI ŠTA GOD DA JE.....GETTFOUTWITHIT RRAAAAAAGHHHHH. Pero ubi me ovaj album, ocena je 2,5 ali svakako pišem 2. JAO KAD SE SETIM OVOG UBOGOG PERE SEME LI MU KRVVAVO. ZNAČI AKO JE GLUV BETOVEN USPEO DA NAPRAVI JEBEMO VANVREMNESKO UMETNČKO DELO KAKO SI TI ZDRAV I PRAV USPEO OVO SRAMOTAAA BREEE ZA TEBE I CELU TVOJU PROPDICU ŠTO TI NOSI PREZIMEE, JA DA SAM NA TVOM MESTU, PROMENIO BIH PRRZIME SVOJOJ DECI. MENJAM OCENU NA 1 ZAJEBI TI OVO

Na osnovu onih zvukova sa ovog albuma što mi je milijan pustio u parku mogu ravnodušno da ostavim ocenu 1

There’s a fine line between weird music that’s good and weird music that is godawful to my ears. I recently gave Metal Box by Public Image Ltd 5 stars on here, but if that album was just a teensy bit zanier it would’ve been a one. I regret to say this album starting with a noise that would kill my nan on the spot is a teensy bit zanier.

Didn't like it at all

pretty meh for me,

are you kidding me? are you serious? i have one life on this shit-ass earth and you give me this? a toaster falling down the stairs while a half-drunk man warbles and alarms blare? NO!!! NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! JE REFUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i normally reserve the 1 stars for criminals but this was a crime against me. ugly, assaulting, not a single redeeming sound on the entire album. go to jail. i'll kill you

this is captain beefheart without the charm. this is the clash without the insight. this is t rex without the ability to play any instruments. this is david byrne trying to sing while at the dentist’s office without them using the suction tool to get all the extra spit out of his mouth.

One of these albums where you wonder if this list is not a waste of time ! Can't wait to hear the second album !!! Voice 0/5 Music 1/5 Guitar 2/5

I’m sure there is some hipster somewhere that thinks it’s great

Groupe inconnu. Les bruitages sont désagréables, presque autant que le chant ... Dommage car le reste est plutôt original (+1), mais dès que le chant (-1) revient c'est un vrai calvaire à écouter. =>1/5

Noise.

Poeh, dit is dus weer zo'n album dat sarcastisch is. Een album dat 'als grap' slechte muziek maakt. Ja sorry, ik vind dat dus toch echt een beetje onzin. Want als een nummer als Laughing op komt, dan mag ik dat dus niet kut vinden. Want HAHA ZIE JE NOU NIET DAT HET IRONISCH IS!?!??!? HAHAHAH JE NEEMT HET ALLEMAAL VEEL TE SERIEUS!!! Hilarisch. Noem me dan maar een zeikerd die muziek te serieus neemt, maar als ik 1001+ albums ga luisteren, ja dan verwacht ik dat het daadwerkelijk albums zijn die de moeite waard zijn. Niet ironisch bedoelde hihaho muziek. Waarom staat er anders geen Schlager op deze lijst? Is iconisch, invloedrijk en de bedoeling van de muziek is een gezellige tijd. Of Happy Hardcore? Stuk invloedrijker dan dit album, dat durf ik wel te zeggen. Nope, Sentimental Journey is gewoon bagger. Ik krijg hier echt niets uit. Soms klinkt het best prima en dan begrijp ik ook wel een beetje wat ze willen doen, maar dit is grote stukken veeeeeel te experimenteel en dan gecombineerd met het 'ironische' vind ik dit gewoon ontzettend matig. Durf te zeggen dat er 1001 albums zijn die ik liever zou luisteren dan deze troep. "Its just a joke man!!!!" Fair, its just not very funny...

Ugh

1/16/26. Meh, thought it was a bit noisy and all over the place. Wasn't a fan of the vocals either; typically I like obscure and uncharacteristic singing styles, but this didn't work for me.

God awful. 1

This is just bad. It tries to be good, and it's bad. There's not much more discussion. Gives you a headache by the first song. Occasionally a good musical idea or riff, then immediately laughs at you for getting your hopes up and goes back into the unbearable. It's bad.

No me gustó

Not my type of sound.

Great. Now I have a headache. DNF Best Song: N/A Rating: 1/10 Stars: 1

Odd, clattery, and frankly a bit of a faff to sit through. More racket than revelation. Not for me, cheers.

feels like Im listening to slop. Wth is this bruh? How am I suppose to enjoy this? Waste of electricity. 1star

Yeah, I don't know. I just didn't like it.

Sadly, more noise than music here.

Awful

not for me

Ouch! This album really tests you from the beginning by putting noise and chaos into the mix. If you get through the opening though, there are some okay qualities in the main core of the music. This is tough listen though, and I doubt I will put it on voluntarily later. I read a blogpost about the selection of this album regarding «1001 albums …» that suggested cutting out this record and do «The Police - Outlandos D’ Armour» instead. I think I will enjoy that more. I don’t think they have put a large segment of breaking bottles and other weird noises in their songs… Favourite songs: None

dnf

Yikes!

I couldn’t even get past the opening feedback noise, that was uncalled for.

Fuck that noise.

This album can just fuck all the way off.

No

I hope I never have to listen to this again

A couple of OK parts but not enough to salvage the rest of the shouting and dissonance

Overall vibe: LOUD NOISES!!!! Notes: It’s loud, it’s noisy and it’s seems like… well the noise just exists without intent, without cohesiveness. The only consistency is just a smattering of noise and for what? I dunno. I hate it. The drugs must’ve been next level in the 70s. Thank god it was only 35 minutes.

Nope.

Absolutely not for me.

Yikes. Over My Head is the closest to an actual song, but yikes.

Pas du tout ma came.

Just not my thing

Überhaupt nicht mein Fall. Ich höre nur Krach und Geschrei. 1/5

I'm pretty good without this. Purposefully harsh sounds.

Pue la merde

I did not enjoy any of these songs. Not one.

WTF man

This is annoying! Second Pere Ubu album I've seen on the list and this is worse than the other. Noise for the sake of noise and the singer has an obnoxious tone that he leans into plus warbling and howling. I generally like experimentation, but this seems like an experiment in annoyance. Starting with a horrible whine-y drone? Lunatics 1 star at best, being generous.

I can, without a doubt, sing better than this guy. It feels like a scene in Don't Hug Me I'm Scared when things start to unravel

Surely you must be joking! Seriously, what is this & how did these people get a record deal? FFS

This album made me regret a few of the 1s I've doled out to other albums because this is on a whole new level.

If I were to create an album with the specific intent of making it as annoying as possible, this may be what I would make. I have heard worse music, but maybe nothing quite so obnoxious. The first 5 seconds of the opener, Non-Alignment Pact, give a good feel for what went wrong throughout the album. Grating sound effects, specifically played through the right channel for some reason, distract from any music of merit that may be happening beneath and create a miserable listening experience that can’t be compensated for. In the case of some songs, there’s not much to worry about missing. For example, Life Stinks is a track full of shrieking and jabbering without much of interest. In fact, throughout most of the tracks, the vocals were the most notable downside next to the sound effects, often consisting of out of tune screeching. In other songs though, the underlying music has potential which is subsequently snuffed out by the sound effects or vocal style, making the impact all the more frustrating. I’m sure underlying the miseries inflicted upon the listener is a message about the horrors of life in some god-forsaken land. Some critics may find this expression of whatever the underlying message novel and profound. But there can be no ignoring the musical output here in favor of message. This was intended to be an assault on the ears, and it succeeded in that. I just don’t see why I should feel the need to endure it. Experimenting with sound effects and the avant garde are not disqualifying, but the artists who experiment successfully typically use these elements as a contrast to otherwise meaningful music. The approach taken here was tasteless, and I look forward to leaving this album behind.

Fug this fugly fugger. This makes me embarrassed and ashamed to be an Ohio native. Definitely not as interesting (and dare I say cutesy?) as Dub Housing, there’s literally nothing to take away from The Modern Dance, except maybe a headache. Christgau says the lows are worth the highs on this album… what highs? The high pitched ringing that’s ruined my ability to forever hear certain tones? The sounds of smashing bottles in my ear? The depraved ravings of a lunatic? What track would I even save for my 1001 playlist? I’d be embarrassed if I was in a room with another human being from any walk of life and any song from here came on. This one is more like pere no-bu. Humanity should agree to collectively forget this album ever happened. Why are we celebrating this on this list?

Too weird for me. Not quite my kinda punk rock

I will concede that, like modern dance, I don’t really understand what they are going for “artistic.” However, it still sounds awful and is painful to listen to. And by that I am not being entirely hyperbolic; Laughing was so shrill and some points it actually hurt my ears. For the majority of the album, the lyrics were largely indecipherable. That may have been because of poor recording/production, or probably just a terrible singer. Regardless it was garbage. Really, the whole thing. Garbage.

Starting off giving your audience tinnitus us certainly a choice. What in the hell; RIP people listening to this with earphones. Also WTF is up with this horrible saxophone everywhere? Lots of this legit isn't even music, just glass breaking and stuff. I hate that this album took a spot on the list away from something good. 1/10

Total waste of time.

Humor Me and give us a good slbum to listen to tomorrow! This one was painful.

Meteliä. Hyi mikä lauluääni. Kamalaa kirkumista ja ihme määkimistä. Nimen perusteella odotin tyypillistä modernissa tanssissa käytettävää musiikkia tai edes viittausta Duncaniin tai Grahamiin, mutta ei. En tykännyt ja huomasin sen jo ensimmäisen minuutin kohdalla. Tuli paha mieli:(

Niin kauhea etten kuunnellu musiikkia viikkoon tän jälkeen. No en kyl tiiä johtuko se tästä albumista, mutta en ihmettelis. Random ääniä vaan, ei kuuosta kivalta ja sanoista ei saa mitään selvää.

Stunned this made the list.

The experimental parts of this albums are just to much for me. Some of the great parts get lost in the mix of good. Some guitar solos save a few songs but over all not a great experience for me.

Genuinely upset this is on the list. I’m sure I just “don’t get it” but if I could give this any lower rating than 1 I would. One of the worst things I’ve ever listened to in my life

pretty fucking whack

Kill this man!

I respect the artist putting out something unique. But it also needs to be digestible. The Modern Dance just has too many random sounds with no rhythms. Congrats to anybody who actually managed to dance to this album.

Pere Ubu’s Dub Housing was one of the worst albums I’ve been served up on here so I did not have high hopes for this one. It starts by giving the listener tinitus for no reason whatsoever. Shite.

Wow that is some opening… The first two songs are instrumentally identical with bad vocals. Then the ear rape continues on “Laughing”. I am not laughing. No redeeming qualities on this album and very hard to finish. 1/5

Да тропаш по барабан и да пускаш произволни звучи отгоре НЕ Е екпериментална музика, защото не е музика изобщо

Wow! When I received a different album (Dub Housing) by this artist I prayed I would never have to hear another song by them ever again. I removed their name from my mind so when I recieved this album today, there was a haunting familiarity "...Pere Ubu...why does this sound familiar?" Ten seconds in... the horrors claimed me and projected graining, horrific sounds from my car speakers. I am once again praying to never hear more """"music""" from them again. But I fear my prayers may go unheard and I will be cursed to hear them once more. Terrifying.

They tried hard. Very experimental with different sound effects etc. But sorry not my thing. The high frequency sound in the beginning was very annoying and irritating. What’s that for? Well, at least it’s a short album. Singing might’ve been inspired or coached by a sheep I don’t know. But a nice brave attempt. In the history, we also need to see what has backfired and failed hard.

Some of the background music was alright, but the singing was unintelligible and there was too much weird randomness for me to enjoy it.

Probably not actually a one star but the song laughing is one of the worst songs of all time. Destroyed my ears. Why would u put that into the world.

Nah this ain't it man. Try again.

Didn't sound good, didn't have any fun with this one.

WTF?

My tastes in post punk are very simple. The more 'post' it is (=the less it sounds like punk), the more likely I am to hate it. This one sounds like punk quite a bit. Even where it doesn't sound like punk in a narrow sense, it does very much stay true of punk staples such as being very unpleasant and a vocalist who shouldn't legally be allowed anywhere near a microphone.

I reserve the 1 rating for albums that I can barely listen to. They are albums I physically cannot finish because they are that bad, sometimes even start. This was absolutely one of them. Jesus Christ Almighty

Æ fékk bara illt í eyrun af öllu þessu ískri í lögunum, mismikið en ég varð bara pirruð

Fengu bara allir að gefa út plötu ef þeir vildu?

Oh good, another crap album by Pere Ubu. My life is so enriched by these out-of-tune horns and these white boys thinking they're Jamaican.

Not at all in the mood for this experimental dumpster fire.

“Let’s make a solid album with some nice sounding guitar, some solid bass lines, and then in each song let’s just also add nails on a chalkboard, but make that part louder and consistent through the entire track.”

35min wo sich ahfühled wie 5h wandere ohni Wasser.

Didn't like this as much as other experimental stuff I've listened to

Quite experimental, random sirens horns bells breaking glass. Do not recommend

I kind of liked the title track groove, except for the weird turn in the middle. Outside of that though , killing cats and breaking glass are not what I would call instrumentation. Most of this was just grating and annoying.

After the first few tracks I can definitely see how this band might’ve had influential effects on other artists like REM, Hüsker Dü, etc. And I had some hope that this might be a cool listen. But alas, by the time track three rolled around with random cat juggling noises…I realized it was another example of an album that should not be on this list. I can appreciate weird bands doing strange stuff, but this is just dumb noise.

I really tried to give this a chance. But starting out with 30 seconds of high pitched noice is a bad start. The guitar came in and was kinda cool….but then he started singing. Yikes. Chinese radiation could’ve been a cool song. Same with life stinks. But then they just ruined it. What the hell is sentimental journey?

I kinda want to round up for some weird dude just doing weird shit. But this is simply too much background noise/random sounds for me to get behind. Will never knowingly listen to this again… 1.5/5

Hmmmmm.

I tried to make it through this entire album for the sake of completing this list. There were a lot of annoying sounds in this album that were annoying and made my skin crawl. I cannot stand random repetitive noises. The album art was sort of cool but the rest was 😐 Rating: ⭐️

Technically it's a DNF but this one set the record for how quickly I reached that point.

Impressive in that it started out with a long annoying sound and managed to keep it going through several songs. Just because something is intentionally bad doesn’t mean it isn’t bad. 1⭐️

No thanks, not my jam

This felt like I was walking up a path to pick up a blind date and, before I could get close enough to ring the bell, the door was flung open and my date threw a bucket of ice in my face. I can’t say that it’s objectively “bad” because some people might actually like that. All I can say is that it’s a bad match for ME.

That was a mess and not an enjoyable one

a bit Talking Heads but nothing special

Noise - sorry, that 0 is impossible

Unlistenable

I would give this album minus stars if I could.

I did not like this. I love everything that this started, as there are clear elements of noise rock and experimental, but as an actual album, I appreciate what they started more than the actual album. It was rough to get through.

What is that awful noise

Not for me, didn’t click at all and I tried to have an open mind

Got more than halfway through the album before I gave up.

Abysmal. The very few good parts aren't even whole songs but sections of songs. Not even possible to just listen to the good bits.

Small bits of this were okay. Most of it wasn't. I would've given this a 2, but I'm dinging it an entire point for that intensely unpleasant opening 10 seconds or so.

Worst one I've had so far

Help! I am being assaulted! The modern dance is apparently a beat-down

If you love random instrumental noise and questionable grunts/groans, this is the album for you.

Too weird. Not good weird.

Yeah this was waaaaay to over the top for me, and annoying at parts 2/10

I cannot tell you how much I was laughing at Laughing during it's runtime. Just hilariously bad (it was good for like 30 seconds in the middle) especially with how terrible the first 2 songs were. Sigh. We're getting back on the right track with Street Waves. Ah, back on the random noises shit on Life Stinks (bass is good). Life stinks? Nah, this album stinks bro. Wanted to give this a 2, but the last few songs of this are barely what any sane person would consider music. It literally sounds like a rubber chicken was used in the instrumentals of Sentimental Journey. It's a 1 star for me dawg.

A bad album to listen to first thing in the morning. Probably bad to listen to at most times of the day. A couple of moments had me thinking the album was going to make a good turn like with Chinese Radiation, but the bad severely outweighed the good. If this was supposed to be bad, they succeeded.

Absolutely awful!!!

Another case of - why is this on here?

First song is so painful to my ears.

3/10

Is this for real?

eh this wasn't very enjoyable to listen to. couple parts were ok. some parts were very not ok.

So an intriguing listen for me, the band is solid, but the vocals pulls me out of it. The album starts with an annoying drone on the right channel, minus 1 star The vocals are annoying -2 stars the band is solid, but lots of nonsense is present in the album Ah we have a revolution 9 pastiche in here(Sentimental Journey, the longest song), just what this album needed to be a 1. 3:50 in Sentimental Journey: "I've got a song," No you dont, wanker

Awful

I started when I thought it can't get worse this came along.

Another strange alternative band. Music just strange.

This album got me thinking about the multiverse, and if in alternate timeline would have I enjoyed this album. After much consideration, the answer is doubtful.

If Diet Water was an LP. Belongs on the 1001 things I never want to hear again.

Ensimmäinen kappale loi toivoa hyvästä. Mutta hyi helvetti mitä roskaa.

Passable at best and dreadful at worst. Did we really need both this and Dub Housing?

1. pact - 0 2. dance - 0 3. laughing - 0 4. ztreet - 0 5. chineze - 0 6. life - 0 7. uuorld - 0 8. head - 1.5 9. journey - 0 10. humor - 0

Not good. Very strange.

Woke nonsense

Bland and boring, a struggle to listen to. 1/5 stars,

I woke up this morning in a good mood and with no trace of hangover. Thank god for Pere Ubu to make things right again. Here is a retelling of what definitely actually happened: Pere steps back to admire his completed album, one hand on his chin. "Something's missing.." he muses. Then, inspiration! He unzips. "Perhaps some hot piss! Yes, that's what's missing" he crackles to himself. "I'm so fucking smart"

+1 point for originality/craziness +1 point for being short That's about it. 2/10

Unlistenable. Why is god's name is this on the list?

The vocals were so so bad. Decent to average production couldn't save this.

non ho tempo per questo

Not for me

Weird nonsense mostly

Bad

Like many of the other reviews on here, I just couldn’t get past the first whining noise, not music, not the kind of album I was hoping for the drive I was going on. 2/10.

Surprised two of this artists albums made the list

Started off feeling like a bad high school garage band -- and I like high school garage band sound! -- and then it just got worse.

Should’ve been called Modern Noise.

Sux

HOrrible

Für mich mehr Lärm als Musik

Just goes to show, the trope of older folks saying 'Is that what you call music?' works in reverse too.

There’s two terrible Pere Ubu albums on this list?! Best part of finishing this one: I don’t have to listen to this god awful band ever again.

Although not without its charm this weird genre of music that sounds out of tune and terrible has never interested me. This kind of music makes me feel like an idiot when I listen to it because if you ever look it up or talk to someone who loves music about this sort of music they say about how good this stuff is and it’s just really bad and I can’t convince myself otherwise

I didn't like it

Life Stinks ist iconic

A lot of really unpleasant noise there. They get a one for sure just for Track 3...so dissonant that it physically hurt my eardrums.

…What the actual fuck is this?? And why is it on this list? 5 Burnt Out Anti Stars if I could.

Yeah look I got two songs in and it just wasn’t hitting for me, really couldn’t around this

Unlistenable. I tried

Right from the beginning screech I hated this. Could not get through it.

Yeah, not a fan at all. That was hard to sit through.

Some sense of alright music but it’s accompanied by some horrible “noise”

Been in a rut for a while now with the seed in this list, having more bad and mediocre albums than usual. Was hoping for that trend to change soon, but with this album we plunge right back into the deeps of the garbage can. What an absolute terrible album. There are sometimes cases with albums where there's one or two songs that are really bad, so much that they draw down the whole impression of the album. Imagine finding an album where all the songs are like this. Enter 'The Modern Dance' by Pere Ebu. There are songs on this album that resemble "normal" songs, but mostly it is quite experimental with various weird and atonal noises. The album makes me think about Einstürzende Neubauten - Kollaps, which is the lowest rated album on this list. This is a bit better, but not by much. A real 0/5 record if I could give that, but I can't. There's no positive thing with this album. Stay away.

I'd like to formally apologize to the albums I've rated 1 or 2. This made me understand what an actual 1 sounds like. The fact that anyone might say this is one of the top 50 albums of the 1970s tells us how high these people actually were back then.

A very difficult listen

The opening track is an assault on my right ear, wtf? post punk silliness.

Jú, kannski eru þarna einhver áhrif á ameríska nýbylgju, en sorrý, mér leiddist þetta.

This isn't a one-star album. There's some pretty good stuff here, including the bass line on the opening track. But that screeching noise... I'm sorry, it drags the whole thing down into the mud. This album would probably get 3-4 stars from me if it just didn't have a few actually, physically painful sound effects. Favorite track: "Humor Me" (I didn't)

Wowwwww this one is not good at all. The vocals are bad, the sound is bad, the whole album is bad. It's like if your friends got together to make some music but forgot to learn how to play any songs together and are also drunk.

Meh, no good, quite annoying.

this guy sounds like his balls are being squeeze in a vise. there are some good riffs/musical moments on here, but they are few and far between. hard pass on ever listening to this again

Complete garbage. Nasty, screechy, plinky plonk, faux-experimental post-punk. At its best the songs sound like an inferior version of Television. At its worst it sounds like someone dropped a music junkyard off a Looney Tunes cliff. I couldn’t tell if the vocals were Peter Griffin, a brainslugged David Byrne from Talking Heads or a screeching Beaker from the Muppets. There’s a funny haywire moment on Life Stinks where it goes up an extra notch in intensity almost as if it was putting itself through a wood chipper. The ultimate nadir is probably Sentimental Journey which is like Joy Division’s I Remember Nothing but graced by the mumbly narration of Mr Plinkett and a thousand extra glass bottles and windows being smashed up.

Edit: Giving my first 1. ̷B̷a̷r̷e̷l̷y̷ ̷a̷ ̷2̷.̷ It’s noisy and awkward. It feels like it’s trying too hard to be weird. The sound is all over the place. Some parts (basslines and drums) hit, but most just feel unfinished (lyrics) or tossed in for the sake of sound.

This is just not it.

a white claw surge made this slightly more bearable but I could still tell it was dreadful

An utter slab of shit. Actual money was spent to record this. It really makes you think.

The random sounds didn't feel necessary, the first track was almost unlistenable. Not for me.

Honestly stunned that this doesn’t have a lower rating. Bollocks cacophony

Shite

not that into it.

Not for me. 1/5

This is throwing shit against the wall and nothing sticking. At least half this band was disgusted by what they were playing. But that's the cost of trying to do something new - it might be ground breaking but likely it's going to sound terrible. (I was too easy on Dylan and I'm taking it out on Pere Ubu)

This is some challenging stuff. It’s objectively annoying to listen to (the vocals on the title track and the intentionally shitty sounding instrumentals on ‘Laughing’ are good examples). Only got 4 songs in before I had to pull the ripcord, so someone please tell me if the back half really picks up. I liked reading their wikipedia page more than I liked listening to their music, which is always a bad sign. “Describing their sound as "avant-garage," Pere Ubu's work drew inspiration from sources such as musique concrète, 60s rock, performance art, and the industrial environments of the American Midwest.” I don’t know what any of this really means

2/10 Really bad Favourite Song=Non-Alignment Pact Least Favourite Song=Sentimental Journey

This album sucked ass. I would genuinely like to discuss this with someone who is a fan. It just wasn't for me.

If you didn’t like the first 20 seconds, you won’t like the rest. I hated the first 20 seconds.

The first song turned me off the rest of listening. Why would they start an album with high pitched feedback? What the actual is this?

Awful

What a sad day to get another Pere Ubu album. As if one wasn't bad enough. This album sucks

This one didn't do much for me. It was more digestible punk than other pink bands I think, but it just didn't grab me.

Yea, I hated pretty much every second of this. Fuck your atonal meandering saxophone most of all.

Welja, de eerste paar seconden gaan al meteen door merg en been. Ergste begin van een plaat tot nu toe, die achterlijke hoge toon. Ze willen je gewoon pesten, tot het uiterste tergen, er is gewoon geen andere verklaring. 'Wat, zijn er nou nog steeds mensen die onze platen kopen? We zullen ze leren!' Op de rest van de plaat wordt er op de vertrouwde wijze met de pet naar gegooid. Verder hoef ik er geen woorden aan vuil te maken.

Het andere album van Pere Ubu was in mijn herinnering één van de ergere uit de lijst. En nu moeten we er nog één. Lekker dan... En ja hoor...huilende snaren, een 'zanger' buiten adem, en vooral veel slecht passende bijgeluiden. Ten opzichte van de eerdere plaat, is dit wel wat muzikaler. (In mijn herinnering. Ik ga het natuurlijk niet checken.) Dus ik waardeer dit album iets hoger. Kom ik afgerond uit op...nog steeds één ster. Zegt wat over het andere album...

I went about 200 or 300 albums in a row without giving a 1 rating for an album. The opening track was difficult to listen to as it was loud annoying noises and terrible vocals. I made it four songs in before I had to turn this one off. This was absolutely garbage.

Some of these songs could be fine, but whose idea was it to add all these obnoxious sounds and effects all over the damn place. Kills it for me. I don’t think I’ll be revisiting this one

This is actual noise slop I understand it’s unique and different but it’s massively boring. This is like early ska music and like party rock like Andrew W.k and Jeff rosenstock it’s mosh pit slop jazz fusion and it’s interesting sure but not in a critique way more in a you can really make anything kinda way. There is no highlight it all blends together in a mush like a meal against the Geneva convention. It is art I understand that just what noise can we put in here to keep a rhythm with a guitar it’s extending the definition of music for sure sentimental journey being the thesis of this all. A carefree song about nothing but destruction a literal deconstruction of music the drums coming in that trumpet thing. it’s hard to listen to this on purpose it’s death grips kinda it’s self aware it’s just a joke man humor me is a true full circle telling the audience in the final song this is not legit. By this point it’s too late I’ve bought in and you wasted my time by not doubling down terrible. May nobody ever find this record ever I can’t wait to listen to stuff I like now.

Sweet! Pure chaos meets anxiety attck.

Well, that was weird. Not Trump/Vance weird. Those guys are weird, but Pere Ubu is a different kind of weird. A "let's take experimentation to the breaking point" kind of weird. I tried to go along on the ride, but my breaking point was the six minutes of breaking glass on "Sentimental Journey."

The third track is incorrectly listed as Laughing. I dug deep and found the original name, Laughing (At The Listener).

Paska levy

Everything was too out there for me to enjoy. The moment I got to a song I could convince myself to like they’d add some element to it that ruined it.

Awful

p396. 1978. 1 star. Unpleasant, pointless abstract noodling. Absolutely no reason for anyone to waste time on this. On the plus side, it's short.

The actual music isn’t bad, there are just too many weird noises interspersed to make this album even remotely listenable.

Starts off with a high pitched dentist drill to the more sensitive crevasses of your brain and really goes downhill from there

Noisy nonsense. Shite.

I kept looking for a reason to give this album a score higher than a 1 but I couldn't find one.

Avant garde trash.

No

There is some good elements here an there, but overall i miss the red thread, and i don't really like the switches in genres during a song. Not my favorit album....

This one is a tough one... Normally I often enjoy weird music, but this ain't it. I think that the highest praise I can give the music(?) on this album is that it's very hard to ignore/tune out, and it's never boring. I wasn't even really sure how to describe the genre, because I'd never heard of art punk before. Now that I've learned what that is I do think it's a good descriptor though. And otherwise I think another review here describes it as "It sounds like the result of leaving a group of school children unsupervised in a music classroom" Standouts Over My Head 1/5

1977 was the Golden Age for Punk, producing titans like Iggy Pop, Generation X, and Sex Pistols, all of which are remembered today. I had never heard of Pere Ubu, and listening to it makes me understand why. For me, their avante garde style of punk is the equivalent of a shot of single malt whiskey mixed with Drano and used in a razor-studded suppository. I might have played this to annoy my parents for a few minutes when I was a kid. Sadly, I hear potential in there for a solid punk experience. All I am experience now is indigestion…

This one is not good. Imagine Frank Zappa, but shitty.

Ugh!

Didn’t enjoy it.

Not good.

The best thing about this is that it is just 36 minutes long. The worst thing are those 36 minutes. Total waste of time.

Art punk album with nothing for me. Can’t connect to the music, singing or rhythm. 1/5

At this point I’m convinced this list is a gag to see what ridiculous things people will say about albums that are actually bad. This was stupid and has no point in being on this list. Replace this with actual music.0.5/10

"You know, your uncle made an album with his friends" "..okey, the one who always drinks to much at family gatherings?" -The album Reminds me of modest mouse but bad. I don't listen to punk that much, but allot feels out of scope for punk and feels more like avant garde at some points. The voices are terrible but it might be the point to make the instruments seem like Mozart in comparison. If you like it, it is fine. For me personally i don't see any significant, revolutionary or important with this album. Sometimes it feels like 1001 is comprised of allot of albums from the authors personal collection, what was a good album in some magazine and the albums everbody should know. i'm starting to think that there really aren't 1001 albums you NEED to hear (closer to 200-500)

Just strange... a few songs that hit ok, but lots of just random noise.. not sure.

That was okay, kind of irritating at times.

This shitty music must have influenced a lot of other shitty music to get included on this list. 1.

Why does every song have an incredibly shrill noise in it somewhere? Worst album in awhile.

Interesting. Not something I'd have on rotation though.

DNF. They’ve gotta knock it off with these strange albums. A good album should not open with tinnitus.

The Modern Dance is bad. Not as bad as some of the worst stuff we've had, but it's definitely not good, incomprehensible mumbled vocals, insufferable high-pitched screeching that sounds either like an animal in distress or some faulty machinery, and really nothing to take away from it other than the fact the bass player is talented and the production highlights their work. It's a 1 from me.

This was not good at all. Starts out tolerable - the first two tracks are jarring and not particularly good, but listenable, and then it goes downhill from there. One of the reviews on the site suggests we've got another Pere Ubu album, to come, I really hope that we don't... 1/5. 

I didn't care for this one. Lots of squeaking and random noises that annoyed me. 1.5/5

Absolutely insufferable

Yeah, wow. If you can appreciate the sounds of seagulls, whales, breaking glass, human seizures, and an out-of-tune bagpipe with a first time player, this is for you. I get punk. I get avant-guarde. I get the anti-establishment overlap and the relation to underground music and sound collage. I just don't want to listen to noise and nonsense. I like my ability to hear too much.

Random noise

Still reeling from Dub Housing, the volume remained very low.

Obscure, shrill, deafening, "The Modern Dance" is an avant-garde debut album by American rock band Pere Ubu. If anything, this album could be a possible precursor to some of the new wave of the 80s. While not the worst album, it is just really bad; this album is so bad that its almost amusing.

I know "unconventional" does not imply "bad," but in this case it does. Strange sounds are frequently employed, never to good effect. The vocalist sounds like he's being annoying on purpose. One song had such (deliberately) terrible instrumentals that I started laughing to myself, only to check the name of the song and see that it was in fact titled, "Laughing." So they nailed that one I guess.

Not a fan, a quick pass!

There's flickers of what could be goodness, maybe even greatness, but the constant reliance on screeching and over high-pitched noises makes for an altogether unpleasant and, at times, frustrating listen.

Think I liked this even less than Bjork! First 20-30 seconds of the first track had an ear splitting noise. Then the songs just weren't very good!

Shit was ass

This was absolute trash. I hated it. My first 1 star.

If there’s a hidden gem here, I won’t find it. Absolutely painful.

I just couldn’t get into it

Jeg bryder mig ikke rigtig om de lyde der kommer ud af min højtaler

Not for me

Ugh

A few cool vibes in here, but overall not my style at all. Too random and just doesnt feel good on my ears lol

Auffallen um jeden Preis. Grässliches Gejaule! 0/5

i lOve AvaNt gArdE

My right ear hurts. An atonal mess of an album, with no redeeming tracks. Screeching, tinnitus-inducing effects layered over below-mediocre guitar, sung by a goofy, mumbling horse-man. Bass and drums are adept, but every other instrument sounds like it’s being played for the first time by the horse-man. Samples of cheering crowds are interspersed throughout the record, presumably so the band can pretend people like their music. I’m all for experimental rock, but it requires the rock to actually be good to balance out the weird stuff. Pere Ubu, when they are actually playing music in earnest, sound slightly worse than the stock rock tracks included on MIDI keyboards. By the end of the album, I was laughing along to what I thought might have been a great spoof, or some satirical effort, but I think they might have been serious. This album would be perfect for some sort of a pain tolerance challenge. Stand out tracks include when the album stopped playing.

Some songs are ok but generally not my kind of music. The voice takes some getting used to.

More lo fi post punk. This one is not at the melodic or enjoyable end of the scale. It gets worse as it goes on. In fact, by the end it's just noise. Rating: 1.5/5 Playlist track: Modern Dance Date listened: 21/02/24

I hate this album so much. The song “Life Stinks” sums up my entire experience listening to this. Most Least Favorite Track: Street Waves

Some of the songs are genuinely annoying. 'Laughing' in particular. There are glimpses of good music here and there but just not an enjoyable listen.

I didn’t like this album. I give it 1 star.

This album was so horrible even my dog was mad that I was playing it. She didn't like the shrieking horns. 0.5 stars should be an option.

Ah the streak of the bottom of the barrel continues. Feels like I'm making up for lost time. The other Pere Ubu album was my first 1 star and compared to that one, this is certainly better, but that's really not saying a whole bunch. Like this piece of shit is less smelly than another piece of shit. Still absolute garbage.

Well this was the weirdest album ever. Weird is usually good - but not always.

I had a tough time choosing between a 1 and a 2 for this album. For me, a 1 is "absolutely no redeeming value, I hope to never hear this album again." A 2 is "I dislike a lot of it, but there's some redeeming value." Pere Ubu managed to kill almost every song with awful sounds - piercing shrieking noises, bizarre instruments, etc. Sadly, without that crap I think I would have liked this album. Most of the underlying songs sound good. David Thomas's singing is interesting and both he and the band are clearly a pre-cursor of the Pixies, 10 years in advance. But the sounds are such a killer that I'm not sure I can give it a 2. Is it enough that some songs are potentially good, and maybe a couple are actually good? Is it worth rounding up to a 2 because they influenced other acts I like (e.g., Pixies, Joy Division)? I'm going to go with no, and give it my first 1 rating. It only took 297 reviews for me to get here, so I guess that's a good thing. LEAST FAVORITE TRACKS: Non-Alignment Pact, Laughing, Life Stinks (a great example of an underlying song that could have been cool, but then has absurd noise - what the heck is happening in the middle of this song??), Sentimental Journey (absolutely horrendous). Songs that I could see myself liking, if I could get past the noise: Street Waves (a pretty good song, but with just a horrible grating synth noise under much of it), Chinese Radiation (first half was good, and then it gets insane, then ends nicely. Go figure), Real World (Talking Heads-ish, with weird grating sounds), Over My Head, Humor Me. Song I actually liked, but not enough to overcome my dislike of the other tracks: Modern Dance (very Pixies-ish, again 10 years before the Pixies).

Awful album

Garbage and there's 2 albums !!!!

40% music I might enjoy listening to, 60% 1920s experimental music where the squeak of a ladder being dragged across a concrete floor might be considered percussion. Sentimental journey was a journey of pain. A high 1.

This album is so terrible that it could be used in psychological warfare. I had a headache after the 3rd song.

Kann weg. Lärm.

Wtf

Started as 'variable' and a 2* review. But by the end, it's 1* as some of the tracks were just complete dross.

Zuerst habe ja gedacht, das ist mal was anderes. Aber tut mir leid, aber das halte ich nicht aus ... Vote 1

NON SE PODE POÑER UN 0? Meter ruido e acordes, non é facer música, ate me puxo de mala ostia

“What the hell” said like Tim Robinson

I'm afraid I didn't listen past track 3. This was not for me.

I haven't been so scared listening to music in a while. 'Laughing' - what am I even listening to? Like, it's as though they just decided to invite everyone in off the street 😂 Very experimental I suppose, but just too weird

Didn't listen properly but erm yeah, what was that?!

I went to apologise to my neighbours after listening to this, but they'd already moved out.

Yeah this one was definitely weird. Strange that the album would be called the modern dance and feel a decade late

Interesting at first but got pretty irritating by the time I was halfway through. Also incredibly repetitive. Relieved to finish it.

Day 28 I was beginning to think I would not give any album 1 star, I was wrong. Very, very wrong. This was honestly painful to get through. No clue why this was on the list. I listened to it without checking ratings first and was very relieved to realize I didn't miss anything.

Not good

Zu wild, zu wirr, gefällt mir nicht

Sorry, maar dit soort avant-gardistisch geneuzel trek ik slecht.

En dan in het laatste nummer van dit album ineens komen met "It's just a joke man!". Goh, echt?

Delicately traverses the borderline between noise and awful music.

Fuck this man

Didn’t enjoy the hat at all 1*

Disappointed honestly, felt like a collection of noises and annoyances. Genuinely surprised how many of these albums have made it onto this list. 1/5.

Deeply annoying. Not a redeeming song on the whole album.

Nope. Quite frankly I'm tired of all the post punk experimental/noise rock that's been showing up. FFS, there are different genres, and if I'm being honest, better genres.

Absolutely awful, 0 stars, couldn't even finish.

This was bad.